Red vests for the CGT, orange for the CFDT, the strikers were there from 7:30 am in the parking lot of the premises of Sapian, avenue de la République, not far from the Louis-Aragon station, eating around a barbecue . From this branch specializing in the sanitation of sewers and pipes, agents travel throughout the Ile-de-France to solve the problems of pipes in buildings belonging to major social landlords such as Paris Habitat or Foncia. The group also operates in air hygiene, fire protection and pest control.
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On the picket, the atmosphere is festive but the testimonies of frustration fuse. “I’m 25 years old. Recently, I asked for a raise for the first time in my career. I was told: “What do you bring to society?” When I insisted a little, I was told that if I was not happy, I only had to go to Carrefour to be a cashier”illustrates Frédéric, biker jacket on the shoulders.
Raising wages to catch up with inflation
According to Sylvain Gauchard, CGT national representative at Sapian, the strike has spread to around ten agencies among the 36 in the group. The three Ile-de-France branches of Voisin-le-Bretonneux, Saint-Ouen and Villejuif participate in particular. Main demand: the increase in wages to catch up with inflation. Over the past three years, the strikers say they have had increases lower than the rise in prices, and therefore not allowing them to stem their loss of purchasing power.
The latter even claim to have had no salary increase in 2020, a year when inflation was 0.5%. Statements partly contested by Xavier Rossignol, HRD of Sapian: if he indeed recognizes that the salary increases in 2021 and 2022 were lower than the rate of inflation, he affirms on the other hand that Sapian granted an increase of 1.1 % to its employees in 2020. “A large part of our customers being cafes, hotels and restaurants, our group has suffered greatly from COVID. We did not generate profits in 2020 and 2021, and despite the recovery, our turnover is not yet restored”, justifies the head office employee. According to the HRD, a new general increase of 2.3% will take effect in April – an increase still lower than the inflation of 3.7% expected in 2022 by the Bank of France.
Xavier Rossignol also argues for individual increases, reserved for the most deserving employees. In all, 0.2% of the payroll is distributed over between 10 and 20% of the 1,200 non-executive employees. A method that the unions reject as a whole, seeing it as a means of dividing the employees: “The raises are for management favourites. We want a general increase, and nothing else!”explains Lahcen, CFDT delegate to the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) of the Villejuif site.
Another irritation: this email received by employees last week, asking them to choose the cheapest gas stations to refuel due to rising fuel prices. Something to annoy when the agents already spend 2 to 3 hours in transport, they explain. “Of course, some people use their company car for personal travel, but agents who drive heavy goods vehicles and service vehicles [de gros pickup Toyota deux places, équipés de matériel de travail, ndlr] are not in this case. We don’t want to have to pay for everyone!” proteste Lahcen.
Faced with the revolt, Xavier Rossignol once again evokes the economic health of the group: “Fuel is our second expense item after salaries. We simply called on employees not to take the most expensive fuels, such as Excellium for example, and to drive smoothly. In short, to use common sense.”
Need of recognition
But even beyond the financial aspects, employees feel insufficiently valued. Like Philip, “emergency physician” for more than 20 years, always on the job to repair and plug the biggest leaks. “You can’t imagine the stress we have. We have our hands in poo all day. We’re the ones helping people when they’re in deep shit, literally. When leaks push them to the limit, it is often us who take, we are insulted. We travel everywhere in Ile-de-France, including at night when we are on call. Just yesterday I started falling asleep at the wheel.”
This Tuesday, the sanitizers of Villejuif and their Ile-de-France colleagues exported their movement to the head office of Sapian, in Puteaux, without succeeding in obtaining an agreement with the management. The strike was still in progress on Wednesday. The movement could be renewed in April.
