Employees of the first French pharmaceutical group have been on strike since November 14 to claim a collective increase in wages. A movement that has disrupted the production of certain drugs.
by Zeliha Chaffin
The freezing cold has not started their determination. On the Sanofi production site in Maisons-Alfort (Val-de-Marne), the thermometer displays a degree outside in this mid-December. But employees on strike, gathered in front of the entrance to the company, bubble with anger. “We will not give up, the management will have to take into account our fed up,” says Barbara, 47, immediately approved by his neighbor.
For the past month, this employee has been briefly having been on the side of her colleagues to claim a revaluation of wages. “After years without collective increase, we have painfully obtained 1 % last year. A crumb for a large group like Sanofi, which achieves more than 37 billion euros in turnover,” said Christophe.
A few weeks before retirement, the production technician, “thirty-eight years of house”, came to support his companions for his last “baroud of honor”. Employed in thick coats, Bonnet screwed on the head, they are fifteen that day that they have appointed themselves around the barbecue installed on the sidewalk.
to the surprise of the unions
“Do not trust the number, many employees support our fight,” says Frédéric Dos Santos. And the CGT union delegate to recall the “soap opera” of the unpublished strike movement “which has agitated the first French pharmaceutical group for four weeks. The social thermometer of the tricolor flagship has ignited during the compulsory annual negotiations (NAO) on wages.
On November 14, the day before the first meeting with management, the CGT called all the unions (CFDT, FO, South, CFTC, CFE-CGC) and Sanofi employees in France to put themselves in strike. Then start the first strike stakes. The next day, a hundred employees demonstrated in front of the group’s head office in the group, in Gentilly (Val-de-Marne). At the negotiating table, the inter -union requires a collective increase of 10 % for 2023 to respond to inflation, a “Macron premium” of 10,000 euros and the hiring of two thirds of the 3,700 employees in precarious contracts (CDD , interim, apprenticeship contract).
“For nine years, Sanofi had almost cut the valves of collective increases. There were only individual increases and by automaticity. In view of inflation during this time, wages are completely ‘West, “explains Mr. Dos Santos. In the process, management makes a first proposal, rejected by employees. New sites join the strike, which sets up over time, to the very surprise of the unions.
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