This rally federated in front of the headquarters of the childcare brand CGT activists and representatives of left-wing parties.
"We know that today, the greatest concentration of the working class in this country is the logistics platforms and that we are experiencing a particular relationship to work: poorly paid, temporary, racialized and so on!" said Mélenchon, calling for a follow-up to the CGT's call for a boycott of Vertbaudet.
"We cannot accept police violence against workers," he also pointed out. "The police I dream of is the police of the Republic, the one that respects, (...) Not a police force that beats women not a police force that twists their necks, that strangles."
Tensions have been high in recent weeks around this strike movement, which concerns about 70 employees out of 327. The strikers at the Marquette-lez-Lille warehouse were repeatedly evicted from their picket line by the police.
One striker said she would file a complaint about violence by a police officer who held her with one arm around her neck during an evacuation.
The Lille prosecutor's office opened an investigation after violence reported by the local CGT union against a union delegate, who was allegedly beaten by people posing as "plainclothes policemen", who came to arrest him in front of his home.
"Where is Darmanin's tweet to denounce the people who kidnapped a worker France in 2023 in <> to beat and humiliate him?"
The CGT, a minority, refused at the beginning of March to sign an agreement on compulsory annual negotiations (NAO), validated by FO and the CFTC.
This agreement does not provide for a general increase in salaries, but a value-sharing bonus of 650 euros in 2023 and other benefits (meal bonuses, additional paid holidays, etc.).
The union, which is demanding a net €150 wage increase, on Monday rejected new proposals from management, including the payment of a performance bonus of up to €200 gross.
A rally of support is to be held Tuesday in Paris, in front of the headquarters of the investment fund Equistone Partners Europe, majority shareholder of Vertbaudet.
© 2023 AFP