In Arles, heaps of garbage in the streets are appearing as the showdown continues between the Arles Crau Camargue Montagnette (ACCM) conurbation and the garbage collectors. The latter fear that the waste collection service will be privatized and they are also asking for the hiring of precarious staff.
They dumped garbage this Wednesday in front of the town hall of Arles.
The CHT union filed a strike notice on April 1st. And the movement could still last. It falls to the worst, with the start of the Easter Feria, this Thursday evening. The piled up piles of rubbish therefore risk coming to spoil the party. “It is on Patrick de Carolis, mayor and president of the agglomeration of Arles, that the responsibility for this situation weighs. We have been trying to negotiate for two weeks, but he has not denied receiving us. If that continue, yes. We are ready to maintain the strike during the feria”insists Laurie Rivéra, representative of the CGT in the agglomeration.
The union says that 9 out of 10 garbage collectors are currently on strike. Contacted by France Bleu Provence, the ACCM did not wish to react. On the other hand, in a press release this Wednesday, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Pays d’Arles asks the two parties to find a way out of this conflict, so as not to disturb the feria, crucial for the traders who have been deprived for two years already, due to the health crisis.