Laurent Baron, the mayor of Pré-Saint-Gervais, in Seine-Saint-Denis, made a rare choice: to return to the factory, once a week. A choice to “stay connected” to the lives of citizens and welcomed by some of its citizens.
In his aircraft engine parts manufacturing workshop, Laurent Baron is nicknamed “Mr. Mayor“. In order not to lose sight of real life, the socialist mayor for five years of Pré-Saint-Gervais, in Seine-Saint-Denis, has chosen to continue going to the factory so as not to lose view the “real life“.
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If this situation is frequent in the countryside where many elected officials work, often in agriculture, it is much rarer in the city and when you are at the head of a municipality of nearly 18,000 inhabitants. One day a week, Friday, Laurent Baron swaps the tricolor scarf for the chasuble in his studio, for “keep your feet on the ground“.
“It gives life and a different way of thinking. We live a reality that we don’t have when we are mayor.”
Laurent Baronat franceinfo
“It brings concreteness to life. When I have to arrive at the town hall at 9 a.m., if I arrive at 9:05 a.m., nothing happens“says the chosen one,”when I arrive at the factory, I have to clock in. I have to be on time, otherwise my boss will tell me: “it’s not okay, it’s a breach of the employment contract, it’s a reason for dismissal”.
A mayor very solicited by his colleagues on the news, in particular on pensions. Their daily life pushes him to denounce the reform: “Working a little longer at the factory is different. Shift schedules are tiring, noise is tiring, dust and production work are inconvenient. When you have to produce 100 parts a day and you’re on the clock, you tell yourself that you have to take out a part every two minutes, otherwise you won’t be successful at the end of the day. It is different from intellectual work.“
A choice to stay connected to the daily life of the inhabitants
The approach commands the admiration of Jawad, who works with him, “there are even plenty of employees who would like to have a mayor like him in their municipalities” enthuses his colleague. “He is not a politician like the others. There are enough of these politicians who are completely disconnected, who remain locked in a bubble and who are no longer linked to the daily problems of society” explains Jawad. Twenty kilometers away, in front of the town hall of Pré-Saint-Gervais, where Laurent Baron spends the rest of the week, the initiative is surprising. “At least he’s at the heart of things“, Judge Pierrette, “it is not only in the administration. When you lead a city, you have to be at the heart and not in the spheres of paperwork”.
Same thing for Nadia, who has already been received by the mayor for a housing problem: “He is very understanding when you ask him. He understands the middle classes or the poor classes of the city. So I tell myself that it is perhaps linked to the fact that he is still hardworking, that he remains faithful to the ground and to himself.” Even if some people think that a day’s work can harm the management of such a big city. Others would like all elected officials to be forced to go to business at least one day a week.