The two main ski lift workers unions, Force Ouvrière (FO) and the CGT, have presented strike calls for January 31, in order to protest against the pension reform project, but also against the modification of the plan of unemployment insurance pensions for seasonal workers. workers
Although “unlimited”, the notice of strike presented this Monday by FO does not mean that the employees of the ski lifts will not return to work at the end of this second national day of mobilization against the pension reform, Eric Becker, general, clarified to AFP. of FO. secretary of ski lifts and seasonal workers.
“Elevators will run as normal from the next day: we don’t want to further weaken companies that are already in trouble,” he said. “This unlimited notice” is intended, according to him, to respect the legal deadlines to “allow seasonal workers to participate in the next day of mobilization against the pension reform, which must be decided by one day in February.”
The CGT ski lifts had already presented their own renewable strike notice to call a stoppage on January 19, the first day of national mobilization against the pension reform, the union told AFP.
Between them, these unions obtained almost 98% of the votes in the last elections in the ski lift sector, which employs some 17,000 temporary workers in France, with FO being the first with 53.5% of the votes, against to 44% of the CGT.
The strike on January 31 is also for temporary workers “the only way to be heard by the Government, while we have spent months denouncing the precariousness they experience, with the reform of their unemployment insurance system,” explained Eric Becker.
“Penalized” seasonal workers
“We can no longer hire, so much has this reform penalized seasonal workers,” whose unemployment benefits are sometimes cut in half, lamented Eric Becker. “They tell us that we are taking tourists hostage, but it is the seasonal workers who are.”
According to Pierre Scholl, the CGT’s national delegate for ski lifts, the unemployment insurance reform has been “a great big point of tension for some time now”, while the postponement of the retirement age to 64 is ” The drop that filled the glass”. camel back, mobilizes a lot”.
“You can’t imagine trackers transporting wounded at 64 years old. And today, the elderly who are no longer employed on the construction sites, the women who have trouble finding work in the off-season have been left with nothing: there are many families”, explained Pierre Scholl.
As of December 1, 2021, the minimum working time to top up the rights to unemployment benefit for seasonal workers is six months out of the last 24 months to obtain at least six months of compensation. Previously, it only took four months out of the last 24 months to recharge rights for four months.
According to an impact study by Unédic, this change to six months should lead, during the first year of application, to delaying the opening of rights to 475,000 people, particularly young people or seasonal workers who multiply short contracts.
Since its entry into force, many of them have reconverted or settled, although temporary tourism workers are among the most sought-after professions, according to Pôle emploi.
Source: BFM TV
