“The whole branch is smicardized, it can’t continue,” says FO

“The entire transport and logistics branch is smicardised, it can’t go on like this”declares Sunday June 26 on franceinfo Patrice Clos of FO transport while all the unions in the sector call for a day of action this Monday, from 3 am in all the industrial zones of France. “We were essential to the continuity of the life of the nation during the Covid and we realize that all the employees have been forgotten.”

“It’s a first day”warns Patrice Clos who specifies that the goal is not to block the roads and annoy motorists. “If we are not heard, the government must know that we will start on longer actions from October”he adds, however, while Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, herself a former Minister of Transport, does not yet have a minister in charge of this portfolio.

With Force Ouvrière, the third trade union in the sector, the CFDT, the CGT, the CFTC and the CGC are demanding wage increases in a context of high inflation. In a leaflet, the CFDT-FGTE demands “the reopening of real mandatory annual negotiations (NAO) in all sectors of the national collective agreement for road transport (CCNTR)”. The inter-union also deplores a shortage of labor due to the loss of attractiveness of the profession.

“The drivers with the highest coefficients are paid between 1,800 and 1,900 euros, the others are at minimum wage or even below”, explains Patrice Clos, himself an employee of the French industrial logistics company GEFCO. All transport companies are concerned, “goods transport, passenger transport, logistics, cash transport, sanitary facilities and others”he says. “For example, in logistics, companies made 30% more turnover during the Covid and there is nothing in salary increase.”