“It’s not in our DNA to demonstrate, but there we had to step up”, explain the bosses of TPE

Drill in hand, Vincent Vaquez carries, lifts and fixes plasterboard and insulation, in a house under construction in Quintin, south-west of Saint-Brieuc in the Côtes-d’Armor. “It’s very difficult. A sheet of placo is 30 to 35 kilos, he explains. He wears it “between 100 and 150” on a building site. “Physically, I’m 45, I’m broke, he said. I feel it on my shoulders, my back. And then the plaster is volatile. I breathe cement dust all day!”

>> Pension reform: as the decision of the Constitutional Council approaches, the unions are organizing an 11th day of action

Vincent Vaquez has already been arrested for several months, and hospitalized. Just like his boss, operated knees. At 47, Walid El Sayed, the manager of the company, always comes to lend a hand. “I’ve been on construction sites for 25 years. I know what work is like. I help my guys a lot. They’re exhausted, tired. So this law, this postponement of the legal age, we can’t accept it, it’s impossible”, he certifies.

“At 62 or even 64, we will arrive with a cane or in a wheelchair on the construction sites!”

Walid El Sayed, manager of Armor Plaquiste Insulation

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He and his eight employees are all against the pension reform. They paraded several times in the streets of Saint-Brieuc, a few kilometers from here, during previous days of mobilization. And to support them, the boss does not count their strike hours. “In construction, wages are not fabulous. A little above the minimum wage. 1,600, 1,700 euros net. So if we take away one or two days’ wages, they won’t make it”he believes.

From his ladder, his employee, Vincent Vaquez, confirms. “It would have been very complicated otherwise, given the context, inflation. I earn 1,700 euros net. I am lucky that my boss supports me. I was thus able to free myself for several half-days and go to demonstrate. If I have to continue until I’m 64, it’s impossible. I’ll be in the cemetery before that!”

To limit the impact of strikes and delays on construction sites, he warns Aurore Vasse two days before. The director of operations and responsible for schedules makes sure that there is turnover. If an employee wants to strike, a colleague replaces him, and vice versa on the following mobilization day. “We have to work in good intelligence so that the company continues to run”she explains.

“We always try to have at least one person from the company in the processions, to represent us.”

Aurore Vasse, Operations Director of Armor Plaquiste Insulation

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“It can happen to be a little late on construction sitesshe admits. We try to weight it with something else. But in the end, the subject of pensions is too important!”

Dismissal for incapacity, “a heartbreak”

Paying for strike days costs, according to her, much less than the consequences of postponing the legal age. Older employees on construction sites, more tired, sick leave, or even worse, dismissal for incapacity, which is expensive for a company. Aurore Vasse and Walid El Sayed had to perform one last year, for an employee unfit for work on construction sites. “It was heartbreaking. We couldn’t put him in a less physical position, site manager for example. You can’t have ten site managers for two workers, or more administrative and office positions. It doesn’t hold up, at least not in a small company like ours”explains Aurore Vasse.

The bosses of Armor Plaquiste Isolation are not alone in mobilizing against the pension reform. They were notably called there by their sectoral employers’ union, the CAPEB des Côtes d’Armor. Contrary to the national organization, which is more in favor of the reform, the president of CAPEB 22, Erlé Boulaire, is openly opposed to it. He surveyed his members at the end of January. Three-quarters of these small business owners and craftsmen are opposed to the reform. “It’s not in our DNA to demonstrate, but there, we said to ourselves that we had to step upexplains Erlé Boulaire. So we marched several times. CAPEB offices closed on certain strike days. We also participated in the blocking of a roundabout. There is no longer a boundary between the fights of the employees and those of the bosses.

“At least when we look in the mirror, we can do it without any qualms.”

Erlé Boulaire, president of the employers’ union CAPEB 22

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In one of the cities of the department, in Lannion, his employers’ organization even sits at the table of the inter-union, next to the CGT, the CFDT or even Force Ouvrière. The administrators of CAPEB will decide after April 14, and according to the decision of the Constitutional Council, whether or not they continue the mobilization after this date.