Coronavirus: employee concern is growing in France

Text by: RFI Follow

In France, the president and the government are worried about the "stopping" of the economy due to the health crisis. But the message, repeated over and over, "Stay at home" leads employees to no longer want to go to work and companies to stop their activities.

Publicity

" We have to be a little clearer, " recognizes an adviser to the executive. The government is therefore trying to qualify the message “ Stay at home ” that it has been hammering for several days. It is also a question of saying: “ everything must not stop! " " It is not a contradictory injunction " defends the Élysée, " on the contrary it is compatible and necessary ".

A message that President Emmanuel Macron himself wanted to clarify, during a visit to the Institut Pasteur this Thursday, March 19. " We are going to change our habits but it must not stop everything !" So it's not contradictory, that's why I didn't talk about confinement on Monday evening. "

Business organization

For the head of state, " confinement " is a word that people do not understand. " When we talk about containment people believe that we are going to seal everything and that we cannot go out and that is not true either. "

Emmanuel Macron asks companies to take the time to organize themselves to continue operating, while respecting health rules. According to the Élysée Palace, the aim is to mitigate the economic downturn as much as possible to allow a recovery when it is finished. A halt that the Prime Minister, Édouard Philippe, already anticipates as " powerful, massive and brutal ".

An alarmist tone which justifies in passing the establishment of a state of health emergency, a state of emergency in a way, which must be validated this Friday, March 20 by Parliament.

Respect for employee safety

Emmanuel Macron urges companies to continue their activity " in compliance with health safety rules ". In a letter from the Ministry of the Interior addressed to the prefects, the government asked for the maintenance of the construction sites, despite the confinement. Instructions which are very badly perceived by the professionals.

David Lemaire is secretary general of the CNATP, the national confederation of craftsmen of public works and the Landscape: “ The decision depends above all on the capacity to ensure the safety of the employees, which is not always obvious when we must move two employees on a site. They are moved with a vehicle, confined in a cabin. Are we following the recommended sanitary rules ? We can ask ourselves the question. "

The secretary general of the CNATP adds that employees can also exchange tools during the day, such as a shovel or a rake. “ You can use gloves, masks or put hydroalcoholic gel but you still have to be able to get them. Can we respect health rules today ? It is not always obvious. "

For those who can today, companies continue to work, but this is not always the case. “ If we force employees to work without being able to guarantee their safety, it is putting workers at risk. It is also the employer who can be held responsible, ”specifies David Lemaire.

The concern of Renault employees

The question of which activities are essential or not, and should be maintained or not, arises. In construction, for example, with professional organizations outraged by the government's call to continue work on construction sites, or at Renault, which closed most of its sites, but not all. For the greatest dissatisfaction and the greatest concern of the employees.

The twelve French factories of Renault have been closed since the beginning of the week. But in some parts of engineering or logistics, the work continues, and not necessarily from home. According to Fabien Gache, CGT Renault national delegate, around 600 employees still have to go to their workplace.

“ The activities under consideration have no reason to be, it is not part of the proper functioning of civil society. These are conditions which are by no means optimal because the employees are obliged to come by public transport. In the workplace there is also the problem of distances, which in many cases cannot be respected due to professional activity. Added to this is the absence of gloves and the necessary equipment to disinfect installations, such as vehicle tests. "

There is also the question of maintaining the wages of short-time workers. The government has announced that it will increase its contribution to workers' compensation. Fabien Gache asks the shareholders to participate, too, in the collective effort. “ We cannot ask the general population to demonstrate citizenship and exclude shareholders. The general management was asked to allocate the sums corresponding to dividends to maintain 100% of the remuneration of all employees of the company and temporary workers. "

To date, 25,000 Renault employees out of 38,000 in France are affected by the partial unemployment scheme.

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