an agreement with the management ends more than two months of strike

“Our fight served a purpose.” The 72 strikers of the Vertbaudet childcare brand, mobilized since March 20 at the Marquette-lez-Lille (North) warehouse, signed an agreement with management ending more than two months of tense mobilization on Friday 2 June. “The management of Vertbaudet announces the conclusion of an end-of-strike protocol concluded with the representatives of the CGT of the company”said the management to AFP. “He understands the lifting of the picket line” at midnight “and the return to work of the 72 strikers” Tuesday.

“We are very happy, our fight was useful for something, financially I will have to restrict myself a little in the coming months but it was worth it”rejoiced Anaïs Vanneuville, a striker. “Our return conditions will be discussed on Monday”, the idea being “that we come in small groups on different time slots” to calm tensions with non-striking employees. “No sanction will be taken against the strikers”, while some had been summoned for preliminary interviews for dismissal, told AFP Amar Lagha, secretary general of the CGT commerce and services.

A salary increase of 90 to 140 euros net per month

Management has opened compulsory annual negotiations (NAO) for the year 2024 in advance, between May 26 and June 1. The agreement provides “a redesign” of the salary grid, as demanded by the strikers. The mobilization allowed “to snatch from the shareholders” a “general increase in wages for workers / employees of the group ranging from 90 to 140 euros net monthly (depending on seniority)“, said the CGT of Vertbaudet in a press release. The 72 strikers (out of 320 employees) demanded a net increase of 150 euros per month. A sum “vital” for the strikers, mostly women often poorly qualified and mostly earning the minimum wage, against a backdrop of high inflation.

Tensions had been growing since the start of the strike. The prosecution had notably opened an investigation into violence reported by a CGT delegate, who was allegedly molested and robbed by people posing as “plainclothes police”, according to the union. Several non-striking employees had for their part denounced a deleterious climate established by their mobilized colleagues.