If French employers have opened up to this welcome workforce, the language barrier and other obstacles to their access to employment persist.
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Faced with sewing machines, Ukrainian refugees are busy. Attentive not to lose the thread, symbol of return to normal life. “They are very motivated and extremely courageous”, is surprised, admiring, Louise way. The communications manager of the Altaïr group participated, in mid-April, in this sewing test session organized by the integration company, in order to recruit Ukrainian refugees.
Of the twenty participants, twelve will be hired in fixed -term contracts on seamstress and maintenance of green spaces. Without understanding, or almost a word of French. “As an integration company, we are used to working with refugee people, explains Louise way. We have guides and they will take language lessons.”
According to The figures of the Ministry of the Interior , on April 21, nearly 50,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war had won France. The men who have been requisitioned, it was mainly women and children who found refuge on French soil. Employers quickly opened their arms to them.
In response to the initiative “L es businesses are committed ” launched by the government, more than 600 companies have manifested themselves on the platform, with “7,000 job proposals”, mainly in the tense hotel sector -Restauration, said, the 1 er April, the Minister of Labor, Elisabeth Borne. As early as mid-March, Adecco launched a European dimension recruitment platform devoted to the connection between Ukrainians and employers. As of April 26, 4,000 refugees and 1,300 companies had already registered.
“Most want to be active”
Although these women arrived recently in France, often confused and with dependent children, “it is not too early to talk about employment, claims Lydia Meyronnet, president of the Care 4 association Ukraine. Most want to be active, work “.
A third of the Ukrainians followed by the association have already found work in France. In the town of Potigny (Calvados), in Normandy, a strawberry producer, who was looking for seasonal workers for his harvest, took advantage of this welcome workforce. The humanitarian association Care 4 Ukraine worked hand in hand with the town hall, which has set up two habitats for free and without limitation of duration.
Of Slavic origin, these refugees also have for them “a reputation for workers”, adds, not without irony, Lydia Meyronnet. Since April 2, Ukrainians have also been exempt from request for work authorization in France, which greatly lightens the steps for their recruitment.
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