Jean-Marc Cicuto, CFTC central union representative at Leroy Merlin, is “extremely angry at the deep silence” of his leadership as war rages in Ukraine, he said on Tuesday March 22 on franceinfo. The trade union delegate would like to be informed about the situation of his Ukrainian and Russian colleagues. Pressure is mounting for French companies still present in Russia to withdraw. On Monday, employees of Leroy Merlin in Ukraine asked the brand to leave the country. The CFTC is not calling for the closure of stores in Russia, but “will fight so that employees continue to be paid” whatever happens.
franceinfo: Your Ukrainian colleagues are calling on the management of Leroy Merlin to leave Russia. Do you hear this distress message?
Jean-Marc Cicuto: The CFTC was the first union to trigger what is called an extraordinary meeting of the International Committee in order to see the security of our colleagues, wage and social security. Today, the 800 Ukrainian colleagues are still paid. We try to be in constant contact with them.
Are some stores open?
No, all stores have been closed since the Russian invasion. Russia started the war, our colleagues today are no longer working.
“The six stores we had, the five in kyiv and one in Odessa, are closed completely.”
Jean-Marc Cicuto, CFTC central union representative at Leroy Merlinat franceinfo
Today we try to have regular contact and we manage to have regular contact. We heard that one of our colleagues had died, which is totally untrue. We try for those who can get out to reintegrate them into stores, in other countries that are in Romania or Poland.
Leroy Merlin is mainly established in Russia, which represents 18% of the group’s turnover. Are you also thinking of the 45,000 Russian employees?
We think a lot about them. It’s even worse in a way, because they’re caught between a rock and a hard place. Behind these 45,000 employees, there are families, there are women and children, there are grandparents. That’s 90,000 people. We hear a lot today that these stores must be closed. I am not the management, I am a trade union organization. If Leroy Merlin were to close today, we will fight so that employees continue to be paid as McDonald’s, Ikea, as all companies currently do. They are closing, but they are paying the employees today. It is our goal to maintain their purchasing power of our Russian colleagues.
But you don’t call when the stores close?
The CFTC is a union that defends employees. Those who can close the stores are the management of the company. We are extremely angry that the company is moving into deep silence, internally where there is almost no communication. Our French colleagues are waiting. They look at the newspapers, we see the missiles fall near one of our stores in Ukraine and we have no answer. It is not acceptable that a company like Leroy Merlin does not provide information, whether internally or externally.