Following the abandonment of its professional club status acquired in 1937, the Gironde club, relegated to National 2, lays off a total of more than 90% of its workforce. This concerns no less than 90 to 100 administrative employees – around ten being retained – as well as around ten members of the medical and sports staff. The “job protection plan” was announced in mid-September, and the first departures should take place in mid-October.
We are therefore witnessing the end of a period of distress spanning several months, during which employees, aware of the critical situation of the Bordeaux club, only learned news about their future through the press. Indeed, according to the investigation carried out by journalists from Sud-Ouest, management was content with a single email to warn of the imposition of leave to reduce the cost of future layoffs, without even having informed the CSE. Worse still, according to this survey, the pension contract allowing the remuneration of employees in a LTC situation (long-term illness) has been terminated since July, due to lack of payments from management. An affront for employees, some with more than 20 years of seniority, who no longer count the numerous sacrifices made for their club.
This massive wave of layoffs is part of the continuity of two other social plans which led to the elimination of around sixty positions in January 2021 and December 2022, not counting individual departures. These layoffs took place despite debt relief by American creditors as well as the reduction in stadium rent, all with the approval of the Bordeaux metropolis.
At the time, the president Gerard Lopez congratulated himself on having “saved the club” and allowed other employees to keep their jobs. Furthermore, the current dramatic situation has not prevented its owner from continuing to taunt the supporters, by putting his finger on his mouth after his hearing before the commercial courtseeing himself again as a savior.
Conversely, in a press release demanding the departure of Gérard Lopezsupporters of North Gate Bordeaux were keen to support the employees: “ Beyond the tragedy on a sporting level, we do not forget that this fall has changed the careers and lives of dozens of historic employees and service providers of the club, who today find themselves in unspeakable social precariousness. […] Our salvation lies in our ability to unite, so let us not delay ».
More broadly, this crisis of the Girondins is seen, in an almost caricatured manner, as the consequence of the neoliberal logics which run through modern football. A managerial approach focused on maximizing profits and financial speculation, with a short-term vision, has jeopardized the sustainability of a historic club and impacts the lives of several hundred workers and tens of thousands of supporters.
