This Monday, May 16, in the morning, an employee of the Les Volailles de Blancafort factory, a slaughterhouse in Cher specializing in the cutting of poultry, took out a knife to cut his veins. According to the unions, management and former employees, confirming information from France 3 Centre-Val de Loire, the facts took place within the company, in an office in the administrative building. A gesture that raises many questions and brings back painful memories for the more than 300 employees.
“Doing this within the company is not trivial”
Monday morning this 60-year-old man, who has worked for the company for nearly 30 years, went to the offices, apparently for a trivial reason. But quickly, the tone would have risen, and he would have taken out a penknife to slash his veins. The firefighters were immediately notified, but the notch being shallow, it was his son who took him to the George Sand hospital in Bourges. He came out the same evening.
Still, this gesture raises questions: what could have happened to come to such an end? The reasons for his action have yet to be determined, assures Pierre Lemmet, Force Ouvrière departmental secretary. Before drawing any hasty conclusions, he indicated this Wednesday to wait to speak with the employee.
It may have been too much, perhaps his discomfort is not entirely work-related, but doing this within the company is not trivial.
The union knows this all the more since it was in contact with the employees in 2020, during a particularly painful period.
Three employee suicides in less than a year
That year, in the space of about six months, three employees committed suicide, including one about fifty meters from the company parking lot. The person responsible for the slaughter was among the victims.
Dramas which, according to several testimonies of employees, were due to “hellish” working conditions. ” Cadences never work. We must always do more, make quality by going quickly. You have to sit for hours and say nothing” testified at the time an employee on France Bleu Berry.
In an email, the management, which says it is deeply affected by the event at the start of the week, make sure you don’t have “detected signs that could have [leur] to anticipate such a gesture. Without what [ils] would have acted immediately.
In addition, she affirms that for a year and a half, actions have been put in place to improve working conditions, including investments, training and permanence with a social worker. “The social climate is improving day by day” writes Samuel Jamardo, the site’s director, explaining that a new management team was put in place a year ago. “This is precisely the reason why we do not understand this gesture“ insists the management.
On the side of the unions, we remain skeptical. Pierre Lemmet explains still have feedback from management problems within the company. “There have been improvements, but when you start from a situation that was untenable, even with a little improvement, it can remain unsustainable.” Depending on what the employee concerned tells him, if his action is due to overwork or problems within the slaughterhouse, the union does not rule out calling a strikeeven a blocking of the site.
We cannot afford to relive what we experienced a few years ago.
A psychological unit has been set up within the company, for all employees who need it. The management also specifies that an investigation will be carried out, and that the social partners were immediately brought together.