Garbage on a sidewalk in Marseille, December 23, 2020. -

Christophe SIMON / AFP

Trash cans special Christmas life.

This Wednesday, three districts of Marseille saw their streets invaded by a pile of rubbish due to a strike movement by employees of the waste collection company Derichebourg.

The company is responsible for waste collection in the 2nd arrondissement of Marseille, where the historic Panier district is located, a stone's throw from the Old Port, as well as in the 15th and 16th arrondissements in the north of the city.

"100% of the employees [of Derichebourg], that is to say 230 people are on strike", indicated Wednesday Laurent Casanova, general secretary of the FO logistic transport union of Bouches-du-Rhône.

The strikers who have stopped work since Thursday, ask for “transfers” of the director of the Marseille site and his deputy, whom they accuse of “harassment”.

“Since the arrival of this new director in 2017, around forty employees have been fired,” according to Akim Yekken, one of the employees.

550 tons of waste not collected in 6 days of strike

"He acts as a dictator, puts pressure and harasses the employees", denounced this employee who with about fifteen colleagues occupied a center for the transfer of household refuse in the south of the city, in Capelette.

Contacted, the management of Derichebourg Polyceo did not respond to AFP.

In a press release, the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis explained that it had "tried to play the mediation card by bringing together unions and representatives of the management of the company" on Tuesday.

"In the absence of an agreement found and following the illegal blocking" of the metropolitan transfer centers for household waste as well as the sorting center "by some of the employees", the Metropolis calls on the "police forces to free access" , she said.

“In six days of strike, 550 tonnes of waste could not be collected in the 2nd, 15th and 16th arrondissements.

"With the blocking of transfer centers which now paralyzes 10 municipalities, including Marseille, this figure could more than double in 24 hours, underlines the Metropolis.

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