On Sunday January 1, 2023, we went to the Monoprix store employee meeting in Nanterre. There we met Catherine and Mina, two CGT militant fund agents, with whom we were able to discuss.
Staff reductions
To save even more, the store management tries to reduce the workforce as much as possible, which increases the workload on the employees. As Mina says: Our working conditions got worse day by day. […] They are not substituted for layoffs, resignations or departures. Here, one person has been seriously ill for 2 years and has not yet been replaced. We only get one day off a week and never any thanks. »
Staff work under tight schedules, hours change from week to week, and employees often find out their hours at the last minute. In this case, when we saw them on Saturday 31st December, Mina still hadn’t received the working hours for the following week!
These reductions in staff also mean that a very small number of cashiers find themselves taking on many tasks for the same salary. Sometimes it can even put them in danger. To save money, the company refuses to hire new security guards. However, the actual vigil doesn’t come until 10am. Before that, they are isolated in the event of an assault, as Catherine sadly experienced recently.
Mobilization
Employees of other Monoprix stores in the region also came to participate in the Nanterre rally, despite pressure from management who ordered employees not to go, not to speak. The working conditions of cashiers in Nanterre are really not great. Indeed, they are also widespread in large-scale distribution, especially since this sector has been particularly affected by the economic crisis since 2020.
To maintain their profits, the heads of the Casino group, to which the Monoprix brand belongs, squeeze their tens of thousands of employees as much as possible and refuse any salary increases. The same rule obviously doesn’t apply to the boss of the group, Jean-Charles Naouri: last June he generously granted himself a 72% raise!
The struggling employees of the Monoprix in Nanterre are demanding fixed hours and two days off a week, but also hiring that meets needs and the indexation of their wages to inflation. We give them our full support. Their struggle is also an example to follow. All employees bear the full brunt of the consequences of inflation and the crisis of capitalism. It is only by fighting together, through a renewable strike movement that embraces all sectors of the economy, that we can stop the continuous deterioration of our living conditions.
