A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #335 - Trade unionism, feminized sectors: A Rainbow that does not make Tolbiac dream! (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The year 2022 ends with another successful strike, lasting more than a month, in 
the cleaning sector. A massively feminized and racialized branch, the movement 
was supported by a broad trade union front. Several lessons can be drawn from 
this struggle. ---- After Sorbonne-University in 2021, it was at the University 
of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne that a strike broke out in November 2022 in the 
cleaning sector. The ten agents (mostly women) hired by the company Arc-en-Ciel 
on the Tolbiac site led a month-long strike against their working conditions. 
---- Abuse and harassment, unfair dismissal of a colleague, non-payment of 
overtime and certain bonuses, absence of contracts: so many grounds for claims 
and legitimate anger.

We find there the usual methods in the cleaning sector, but particularly at the 
company Arc-en-Ciel, known to be one of the most rotten, and confronted with 
recurring conflicts.

The first objective was to create the presence of these "invisible" workers who 
clean a 21-storey tower on a daily basis. A daily picket was organized in the 
hall of the center, animated by the strikers and their supporters, especially 
students.

Several actions to make this mobilization as visible as possible have been 
carried out, such as the sticking up of posters, the distribution of leaflets, or 
the papers spread on the floor of the hall to insist on the need for this work.

A speech was even held with more than a hundred people and numerous interventions 
in front of the university. It was a success, which made it possible not only to 
impose on the presidency of the university to tolerate the picket in the 
university (while she wanted to reject it outside in the middle of winter), but 
also to attract more wide attention.

That of the students and staff of the university of course, rather favorable in 
this center usually very mobilized, but also of the press which came several 
times, which put greater pressure on the university.

Unified trade union support
This efficiency was made possible by the organization of workers within the 
CNT-SO (National Confederation of Labor - Workers' Solidarity), which united the 
team while giving them the tools to fight.

Student organizations, such as Révolution Permanente, Solidaires Étudiants, the 
UNEF (National Union of Students of France) and the FSE (Student Union 
Federation), as well as professional struggle unions (Sud, CGT, FSU), supported 
the movement, while leaving it its autonomy.

The picket, in the hall of the center, sees students passing by every day
Communist Initiative
University staff were thus able to relay the demands of the strikers during the 
technical committee and during meetings with the presidency. The maintenance of a 
large strike fund since the 2019 movement, co-managed by Sud and the CGT, has 
also made it possible to financially support the movement.

The culture of struggle and the trade union and interprofessional union 
facilitated the maintenance of the strike over time. The presidency of the 
faculty was thus put in front of its own contradictions and its different 
arguments internally and with the strikers. This forced her to hold a more 
radical discourse than her original positions.

Another positive effect: the right and the extreme right (the UNI, the Cocarde 
and the GUD) were kept at a distance throughout the movement, which proves that 
the most effective bulwark against the extreme right is social struggle!

Faced with the strength of the movement, Arc-en-Ciel of course tried to divide 
the workers by taking an inflexible position, refusing the reinstatement of the 
dismissed colleague and sending other teams to try to clean up the site.

The contempt and the absence of negotiation with the strikers ended up being 
heavy after a month of conflict, when the question of pay began to arise as the 
end of the year holidays approached.

Despite these tensions, the movement remained united until the signing on 
December 5 of a victorious agreement: salary increases, requalifications on 
permanent contracts, payment of the stripping bonus and the 13th month. It is 
therefore a material and political victory for the strikers.

Despite everything, the obstinate refusal to reinstate the dismissed colleague as 
well as other problems raised during the strike led the CNT-SO to seize the 
industrial tribunal. Finally, we will have to remain vigilant, Arc-en-Ciel having 
not hesitated to trample its own end-of-conflict agreement at Sorbonne-University 
after a few months.

The outsourcing problem
In addition to the conquests it allowed, this struggle had several positive 
effects within the university. It strengthened the unity and determination of the 
struggle organizations, which moreover won the majority of seats in the 
professional elections that followed the movement.

She also shed light on outsourcing within the faculty. The phenomenon is known 
and massive in the building or at the Post Office, with the key to degraded 
working conditions but also strikes.

But it is also becoming widespread at the university, in security and cleaning 
activities, and recently even for taking notes for the minutes of deliberations 
in central councils!

It is absurd to continue this siphoning of public funds in the service of abusive 
companies, and the Paris I unions have already planned to lead a campaign in 2023 
to obtain the internalization of these tasks. Finally, this struggle reminded us 
that the university cannot function without feminized and racialized professions, 
in cleaning but also in administration (also in great suffering in Paris I).

Obtaining victories in these sectors is strategic for militant unionism. It is 
essential to take hold of these questions, especially in view of March 8.

Hugo (UCL Montreuil)

Read also "Cleaning subcontracting: strikes follow one another, Rainbow remains", 
Power relations, December 14, 2022.
Read also "End of conflict agreement for cleaning staff subcontracted by 
Arc-en-Ciel in Tolbiac (Paris I University)" on cnt-so.org.
Read also "A year of struggle on the DPD and Chronopost pickets" on sudptt.org.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Secteurs-feminises-Un-Arc-en-Ciel-qui-ne-fait-pas-rever-Tolbiac
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