End of inadmissibility for Amazon. The logistics giant will not be able to play the partial unemployment scheme for its six French sites whose activity was suspended at the end of April following a judicial decision. The Ministry of Labor confirmed Monday, May 4, having received and then refused the request of the American juggernaut.
The request was refused because the closure of the sites concerned is the consequence of a court decision and not of a drop in activity, the administration said.
The management had previously told AFP that it had "made a request for partial unemployment for six sites, or about 10,000 people, which was unsuccessful".
"The recent decision of the Versailles Court of Appeal has obviously had an impact on our activity in France (...). In this context, we have also requested assistance, as other companies in France have been able to benefit. ", said Amazon management.
An "indecent" request
Amazon was ordered by the Versailles Court of Appeal to carry out a risk assessment related to the coronavirus crisis with the employee representatives and to reduce its activity by then under penalty of 100,000 euros per violation found.
The group preferred to close its warehouses until May 5 inclusive. The CGT, CFDT and SUD unions of Amazon France have proposed to management a gradual resumption of activity.
The unions qualified in a statement as "properly indecent" the request for partial unemployment from Amazon, stressing that this device had been "put in place to help the employees of companies whose activity is made impossible during the period, like catering or non-essential businesses. "
"Even more, Amazon has chosen to temporarily close its warehouses since April 16, while continuing its activity from those in Europe, to better avoid two successive court decisions," they indignant.
With AFP and Reuters
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