Some 200 people gathered on Wednesday at the call of the CGT in front of the Galeries Lafayette on boulevard Haussmann in Paris, to demand better wages and the repeal of the pension law, making the store inaccessible for customers. A press release from the CGT trade and services mentioned in the morning a possible occupation of the store, which ultimately could not take place and took the form of a demonstration outside.
The demonstrators “do not occupy the Galeries Lafayette Haussmann” but are “in the street” near the department store, said a spokeswoman for the group. “Some doors have been closed temporarily to avoid overflows” preventing customers from entering the store adds the same source, which indicates “deeply regret” the situation.
“The main thing is that there is not a cent that goes into this shop today and we won,” said Amar Lagha, secretary general of the CGT trade and services federation, on the spot. It was impossible to enter the store but the employees who arrived on site before the attempted occupation were present on the shelves of the store.
Sandwiches were being distributed to allow protesters to stay in front of the store “until the store is scheduled to close at 8:30 p.m.,” said Armelle Moreau, deputy secretary general at the CGT of Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. The demands concerned the abandonment of the reform of withdrawals, a minimum wage of 2000 euros or even an increase in wages.
“It’s always difficult to work in commerce, today we have to make late closings on Sundays and public holidays to have a salary around the Smic” testifies Déborah Filipelli, employee and elected CGT at Galeries Lafayette. This rally comes a month after the occupation of an Auchan store by the CGT in the La Défense business district and is part of a series of so-called “symbolic” actions organized by the CGT.