The adoption of the pension reform in Parliament, Monday, March 20, did not affect their determination. For sixteen days, garbage collectors in several cities such as Paris, Nantes, Saint-Brieuc and Le Havre have been on strike to denounce the postponement of the legal retirement age. Others, like those in Marseille, joined the movement on Tuesday March 21.
A mobilization with quickly visible consequences and which highlights the profession of garbage collector. In the streets of Paris, the symbolic bar of 10,000 tonnes of uncollected waste was crossed on Friday, estimated the town hall. In question, the stoppage of municipal agents responsible for garbage collection in half of the boroughs (2e5e6e8e9e12e14e16e17e et 20e) – the rest of the capital is the responsibility of four private companies.
The situation prompted the police headquarters to requisition agents from the City’s cleanliness department to evacuate the garbage. But the unions and the strikers are determined to continue to oppose the pension reform, for the agents of the municipal authorities as for the employees of the private sector. “Just because institutional time is over doesn’t mean it’s over for us! »warns Natacha Pommet, general secretary CGT Public Services, who recalls that the strike in Paris has been extended until March 27.
“At the end of their career, garbage collectors arrive worn out and do not always have the possibility of obtaining a sedentary position. Two more years is no! » In its renewable strike notice of February 13, the CGT Public Services recalls that ” garbage collectors [en régie municipale] and the drivers [de camions-bennes] can for the time being claim retirement at 57 without bonus, an age postponed to 59 with the pension reform “. Private employees, meanwhile, will have to leave at 64 instead of 62 at present.
“Repetitive Tasks”
“To be a ripple [personnel chargé de ramasser les déchets et de les vider dans les camions-bennes, par opposition au conducteur]it’s being in the back, facing impatient motorists, lifting several tons of waste a day and seeing the consequences of all that on your muscles, your joints “shell Mme Pommet.
“Night schedules, significant physical effort reinforced by time constraints are undoubtedly hardship factors, which vary according to the tours, cities and employers”adds Serge Volkoff, statistician and co-author of an analysis on the drudgery of the work of scrapers commissioned in the early 2000s by employers and unions of waste collection companies. “At the end of their professional life, many of the people interviewed at the time complained of pain in the knees, shoulders, repeated lung problems – although not necessarily serious – related to bad weather and/or gas exhaust, even if they did not deny the technical improvements put in place over the years, in particular the containers and the more comfortable recent trucks. »
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