“It won’t change much,” according to resigned employees of the LDC food group in Sarthe

Franceinfo surveys the French and their expectations of Michel Barnier’s new government. On Wednesday, we hear from employees who want the retirement age of 64 to be abolished.

Head to Sablé-sur-Sarthe, in Sarthe, where the headquarters of the LDC food group is located. It is the number 1 poultry company in France with brands such as Le Gaulois, Maître Coq, Loué and Marie. Around a hundred sites are spread across France and Europe, including several in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, where the primary expectation of employees concerns pension reform and the repeal of the retirement age at 64. years. The new Prime Minister said he wanted “open the debate” for a “improvement” of pension reform.

In the heart of the industrial zone, in the middle of the factories, a large roundabout was the scene of demonstrations by hundreds of employees during the pension reform. “I have demonstrated many times in the last year, said Gilles, 57 years old, still disgusted, I lost a lot of hours for apparently nothing at all, because 49-3 is over!”

He will leave at 61 years and three months because he started working young. “With the Macron reform, I took fifteen more months. I would have preferred to leave at 60, but unfortunately, no luck”he resigns himself.

“We have back pain because we carry a lot.”

Corinne, LDC employee

to franceinfo

All the bodies that pass through the factory gates are worn out and damaged, like Corine’s, 52 years old. His job is to put labels on chicken trays, a very repetitive task. “I have already had surgery on both shoulders, I have had carpal tunnels doneexplains Corine. I take care of the machines, so we have the ‘célo’ to change – the ‘célo’ is the film that wraps the trays. The lightest ‘célo’ is 13 kg and we go up to 21 kg. And then we have the labels, the labels, The roll of labels is 4 kg so we change the label sometimes 10 to 15 times a day.”

Under these conditions, Laurence refuses to work any longer: “At 61 years and nine months since today the law is like that, it is at least to make a gradual retirement. There will be a loss of money, but it is also a personal choice. It is my health before work.” But not all of his colleagues can afford it. On average, depending on their seniority, they earn between 1 500 and 1 800 euros net per month.

Pensions and purchasing power, will there be any changes with the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier? ? This other employee no longer believes it: “They tell us nice things to get elected, to create buzz, I don’t know, but in the end we don’t hear anything, we see that nothing really changes. There may be a new government, a new minister, but with the same president, it won’t change much.”Charlène believes. So the employees are trying to get things moving at their level in the factory. Just last week, they went on strike to get better working conditions.