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Joint declaration by French commerce trade unions (in French):
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France's commerce trade unions mobilise their members: France's major commerce unions have launched a series of strikes to bring the employers' association to the collective bargaining table for serious discussions about wages, part-time work and Sunday shop opening. Last Friday, more than 85 per cent of all hypermarket workers and well over half of the supermarket workers participated in a one day strike action. Now the unions will see if this was enough of a warning, or if actions have to continue. Commerce workers are among the lowest paid in France and the wage scales tend to start at the legally established minimum wage, sometimes even below if the minimum wage has been raised. Also the higher grades carry low wages, with a small difference to the minimum levels. At the same time the large commerce chains make solid profits. Part-time workers are even worse off if their monthly hours are insufficient. Some leading national chains - like Carrefour and Auchan - are already applying a 30 hour minimum but the employers association is prepared to discuss only an increase from 22 to 23 hours. On the issue of Sunday work, the employers have until now refused to talk with the unions. The three UNI Commerce affiliates FGTA-FO, CFDT Services and CGT Commerce say that this is a major cause for the irritation among commercial workers, which has now sparked their mass action. The strikes last Friday should have been a clear signal to the employers' association about the capacity of France's commerce trade unions to mobilise the workers in this sector. Nobody had believed that participation in the action would be so massive, and this of course encourages the unions and their members with regard to the ongoing collective bargaining.
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