Thibaud Hue 09:28, March 17, 2023

For 12 days, garbage collectors in the capital have been on strike. On Wednesday, the Paris police prefecture announced that some officers would be requisitioned and will therefore have to return to work, under penalty of sanctions. But the agents met by Europe 1 do not intend to stop their protest against the pension reform.

In Paris, the prefecture of police is mobilized on an explosive issue: the strike of garbage collectors, which continues after 12 days. The State is preparing requisitions of personnel and some agents will therefore be forced to return to work. A call that fears the strikers of the collection center of Ivry-sur-Seine, in the Paris region, where Europe 1 went.

"We're doing the work, but it will be at my pace"

The collection trucks are lined up under a shed, the alleys of the dump deserted and the silence: 90% of the employees are on strike and many will be requisitioned to clean the streets of the capital.

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Didier, a Force Ouvrière driver and shop steward, obeyed orders, but he continued to protest in his own way. "If unfortunately, I am requisitioned, it will be very long. They're going to cry," he said. "We're going to go very slowly and from one point to another, it's going to be extremely long, we're going to drive at two or three kilometers per hour. We're commandeered, ok. We went out with the truck, ok. We're doing the work, ok, but it'll be at my pace."

"If they want to clean, they just have to do it for us"

Others, on the other hand, have already planned to say no. This is the case of Jean, a garbage collector of the center, who will remain on strike at all costs. "Whatever happens, I won't go. Why do we have to do it? We are in a strike position and it is a right," he insists. "They want to clean, they just have to do it for us. The prefect just has to roll up his sleeves and pick up the bags, we can even give him gloves if he wants."

>> READ ALSO - Garbage collectors' strike: faced with the waste that invades the capital, Parisians adapt

Requisitioning 4,000 cleaners is not easy. Bailiffs must go to the strikers' homes with law enforcement officers. In case of refusal, the employees risk six months in prison and a fine of 10,000 euros.