Toulouse. Garbage collectors movement: private companies called in to collect garbage
Through Gabriel Kenedi
Published on
Angry at the scheduled end of the finished-gone, began a mobilization ten days ago.
Uncollected garbage cans
If they are not on strike, they have decided to protest by “Applying the rules as strictly as possible” brought into force on January 1, 2022. Consequence, since Monday November 22, many bins are not collected in the Toulouse Métropole sector.
“Since the administration refers to the regulations to put an end to the finished game and we are removing our gains, we decided to apply the future regulations to the letter, respecting the break times and the highway code. Attention, on do not gland! But we simply want to show that what the Metropolis wants to see applied is impossible. And besides, it does not work, since the garbage collectors do not manage to finish their rounds! », Recently indicated Benoit Fontanilles, spokesperson for the intersyndicale (FO, CGT, FA-FPT, FSU, Solidaires Sud and Unsa).
Private companies mandated by Toulouse Métropole
Based on information fromToulouse news, to deal with this situation – and prevent garbage cans from piling up in the streets – Toulouse Métropole called on private companies (Veolia, Codev) to take care of the garbage that has not been collected. A measure in force since the beginning of the week.
“Crews do not finish their sectors. We therefore called on back-up trucks from service providers ”, confirms Vincent Terrail-Novès, vice-president of Toulouse Métropole in charge of cleanliness. “We have teams that do their job well and we have a few crews – a bit always the same – who don’t finish their tour. And in the tours that are not finished, which between representing 40 and 50% of tours, we have very heterogeneous things: it can be limited to a few streets where the trash cans are not collected or then to several dozen streets according to the crews, ”he adds.
A choice that does not surprise the intersyndicale so much. “It’s very common but usually they call in the private sector during hard strikes. There, it’s just because the tours are not over. But they don’t collect everything anyway. The other solution they found is to make contract workers work overtime. This was the case on Saturday afternoon, ”notes trade unionist Benoît Fontanilles.
“They apply the rules with exaggeration”
The inter-union also remains stuck on its positions: “If we are not finished and if we strictly apply the rules, we must add ten trucks per depot. We therefore have the proof that the finished job is an advantage for everyone ”.
While according to our information, first discussions Benoît Fontanilles, has been postponed to December 8. “As a guide, we continue the movement by applying the rules to the letter. Either we add trucks and personnel, or we leave the peace with the finished party.
On the side of Toulouse Métrople, which is carrying out its reform, the bell is necessarily different. “They apply the rules with exaggeration since they themselves call it a work-to-rule. It is therefore very difficult for us to say that it is not applicable, ”says Vincent Terrail-Novès.
“How can they make us believe that what they do on average between 4am and 4.30am, they could not do between 6am and 6.30am of work? No one can believe it! There is a lot of exaggeration but having said that, in what they apply, it is not all bad things. There are actions that were to be avoided that they no longer practice. There are therefore positive and more negative things in this movement, ”underlines Vincent Terrail-Novès.
What is the “finished party”?
Until now, and for several decades, the garbage collectors of Toulouse Métropole have been able, thanks to the “finished party”, to leave their workplace once their tour is over, whatever the time. Relying on the Civil Service Transformation Law passed in the middle of the summer which provides for the alignment of all territorial agents to 1,607 hours per year (i.e. 35 hours per week), the Metropolis has decided to put an end to this practice as of January 1, 2022. Instead of returning home after their rounds are over, collection agents will have to stay at the depot until noon.
The Metropolis ready to discuss but “not on the end of the finished game”
As negotiations begin, which promise to be tense, the vice-president of Toulouse Métropole intends to set the framework.
“We are ready to discuss a number of subjects. That the agents have advantages compared to the arduousness of the work, I find that quite normal. How many more days of subjection are granted to them because of the arduous nature of their work? On that, we can discuss. There are also compensations which are under discussion on work on Saturdays and on public holidays. But on the end of the finished party, there can be no argument. This is not negotiable “, adds Vincent Terrail-Novès, who recalls that the end of the finite party is” in the framework of the reform of the modernization of the civil service of 1607 hours “.
“All the agents of the community must and must work 35 hours. How do you expect garbage collectors to be the only category of agents so that this does not come into effect? On the other hand, the two things that guide us to put an end to the finished party are the health and safety issues and the quality of service, ”he explains.
And to add: “If we do that, it is rather to safeguard the public service. If we intended to entrust this service to the private sector, we would not be embarrassed with the safety and health of the agents. If the agents are attached to the public service, they must warn us that they are in favor of the reforms which go in the direction of the quality of the public service ”.
No “hard” strike
“If Mr. Novès does not want to discuss, he will pay dearly (referring to the money spent by the Metropolis to appeal to private companies). Auto nothing will prevent us from continuing the movement beyond January 1“, Responds Benoît Fontanilles.
Does Toulouse Métropole expose itself to a hard strike if the two parties do not find an agreement? According to our information, an option is not considered by the unions to date, which considers that the current movement is more relevant than an outright strike, which would not necessarily be popular in public opinion. In the meantime, the standoff continues.
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