Companions of the Emmaus community of Tourcoing (North) began a strike on Tuesday for better working conditions and regularization of undocumented workers, joining a movement from the branches of Saint-André-Lez-Lille and Grande-Synthe. The strikers intend to denounce “their working conditions and their living conditions” and demand “a radical change at the head” of their association, according to a press release from the local CGT union. There are several dozen of them, one of them told AFP, giving only his first name, Achraf.
Among them, undocumented workers, who report “scandalous” working conditions: hygiene (rats), safety (unsuitable machines, injuries), working conditions (40 grueling hours per week), racist remarks and contemptuous attitudes” , continues the union. They are demanding regularization. Employees on permanent contracts and integration contracts – the latter in particular demand a salary at least equal to the minimum wage – are also participating in the strike.
The mobilization in Tourcoing is part of a movement initiated by the community of Saint-André-Lez-Lille, of which around twenty undocumented companions have been on strike since the beginning of July. This community, which accommodates around fifty people, including 15 children, has been the target of an investigation since May for “human trafficking” and “hidden work”.
In another Emmaüs community in the North, that of Grande-Synthe, around twenty companions began a strike at the end of August to protest against working conditions. These strikers were summoned to a board meeting of the association on September 14, during which their removal “is considered,” their lawyer, Me Ioannis Kappopoulos, told AFP. This would “deprive them of their status as companions” and put them on the street, he worried. A board of directors meeting for Emmaüs France is also planned for September and should make it possible to “put everything straight,” Sylvie Desjonquères, vice-president of the community branch of Emmaüs, told AFP at the end of August.
