The secretary general of the CFDT Laurent Berger at the Elysee Palace, June 24, 2020. -

Jacques Witt / Sipa

The leader of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, was surprised, this Monday morning, at the massive recourse to short-time working in large distribution, even the convenience stores, whose sales are however little impacted by the confinement, estimating that it It was a public expenditure "from which we could have been exempt".

Asked about France Inter, the leader of the CFDT estimated that the recourse to short-time work in the mass distribution sector was legal, which has "no doubt a great loss of turnover" for having had to close its shelves "no essential ”as part of health measures.

On the other hand, it is more astonishing that certain employees were placed in partial unemployment "including on the essential departments", noted the secretary general of the CFDT.

"Substantial savings on the backs of taxpayers"

“I say be careful, there was perhaps a way, at least in certain stores, to do otherwise,” he continued.

These measures have "a cost for public finances" and are "the illustration of an expenditure from which we could have been exempt", to avoid in the future a "boomerang" effect which would see for example the government impose restrictions. on unemployment insurance to save money, he warned.

The CGT of Carrefour hypermarkets rebelled on Friday against the use of short-time work in the group's stores, believing that management wanted "to take advantage of the financial windfall to achieve substantial savings on the backs of taxpayers".

Requests from the sector scrutinized

For her part, the Minister of Labor Élisabeth Borne recalled Sunday that the sector was entitled to this device, since it is faced with the "shutdown" of part of its activities, and that she preferred "that employees are in partial activity rather than dismissed ”.

However, underlined the minister, the government "will verify that the requests presented are justified", so that the mass distribution obtains "what is legitimate, and no more".

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  • CFDT

  • Laurent Berger

  • Confinement

  • Supermarket

  • Large distribution

  • Unemployment