Toulouse: for the employees of the La Marelle Bordelongue nursery, “the layer is full”
This morning, fifteen employees of the “La Marelle Dordelogue” nursery, located at 116 route d’Espagne, in Toulouse, have their establishment in front of their establishment. They are calling for better salary recognition, bonuses, an end to staff turnover, new hires, work in their nursery …
On the many protest posters of the employees of the crèche La Marelle Bordelongue, located south of Toulouse, one could read: “The layer is full”; “Here: baby factory”; “Overbooked nurseries, overworked professionals”, …
Two years ago, the La Marelle Bordelongue nursery was bought by the People & Baby group. And for the employees, it is from there that “their working conditions began to deteriorate”. “We lost holidays and all our benefits such as our attendance bonus, holiday vouchers, meal vouchers … While at the time of the takeover, the management of People & Baby had promised to keep everything” explains L ., Assistant Director. She wishes to remain anonymous “because I am going to resign”, she slips, her eyes darkened with fatigue.
Also following this takeover by People & Baby, many employees resigned. “We are faced with a huge turnover. Six people resigned before the start of September and we are unable to replace the car the hiring conditions are not attractive”, continues the deputy director. For the people in post, this translates into an additional cost of work and the children are not accommodated in compliance with the supervision ratio required by law. “The staff turnover harms babies who have to adapt each time. They cry a lot, are not well”, adds C., employed at La Hopscotch for 4 years. The teams say they work most often in small numbers, “it happens that for the group of babies, we have to manage 17 children with three, or even two at the time of breaks”, confirms Enola. “It feels more like assembly line work than really taking care of the children,” adds Sabrina. Today, all these employees are ready to resign, “we look elsewhere, it is no longer possible knowing that we come for 1200 € per month, when we have no problem with our payslip”, answer -they in chorus. “It’s a shame because we have a great team there who take great care of the children. In addition, when our director, who was really exceptional, left and it shocked us”, continues L.
“in the evening, we can wait 45 minutes before picking up our child”
When the employees announced their strike movement to the families, the majority showed understanding. This is the case of Caroline, mother, two boys. The first to know the old direction; the youngest, the new. “At the time of redemption, the group warned us that nothing would change. This was verified at the beginning but two years later, we were billed registration fees each year,” says the mother.
She also sent that there are tensions at the staff level. “Some evenings, we wait 45 minutes before picking up our child,” she regrets. Caroline benefits from a partnership between her company and the crèche. “Back in the days of my first child, they were very flexible in terms of hours, today that is no longer the case. In addition, they sometimes ask us to provide physiological saline or bottled water. We feel that the supplies have also been stretched everywhere, “slips the mother. She has thought about changing the nursery “, but she is two minutes away from work and it is not so easy to find places elsewhere. As for hiring a nanny, it is expensive,” she concludes.
Asked, the management of People & Baby has, for the time being, still not followed up.