During the hearing before the criminal court of Marseille, at the beginning of March, the prosecutor had asked for the release of the CGT of the Grand Port Maritime before the decision was put under advisement. Delivered this morning, the judgment, on the contrary, condemned the union as a legal person for “attempted fraud in the judgment”. The CGT is fined 10,000 euros and will also have to pay a symbolic 1 euro as well as the reimbursement of legal costs to its intimate enemy at the origin of the complaint, Force Ouvrière… These methods would have been used for the purpose to invalidate the results of an election of employee representatives to the supervisory board
The case dates back to 2013. That year, the CGT won the election in its historic and highly strategic stronghold. But with a narrower margin than usual. Furious that several of its members were prevented from participating in the vote for lack, for example, of sending the material by correspondence – “a trick of management“, denounced the union – the CGT decided to challenge the election in court.
In support, twenty-three certificates supposed to come from employees of the GPMM, confirming the bugs. Despite this, the union was dismissed before the district court and then the Court of Cassation. By peeling the famous certificates, FO had raised a hare: some included imitated signatures, others spelling errors on the surnames supposedly filled in by the authors and, even, the signature of the prefectural authority instead of place of the one who was supposed to sign…
“We only had 48 hours to recover these certificates at the request of our lawyer. I don’t know how they were written. But all the people gave us their identity cards. They therefore agreed with our challenge.“, defended himself at the helm Pascal Galéoté, the boss of the CGT du Port, pleading “good faith”.
At the end of the decision of the day, qualified “of epiphenomenon“, “in a period of struggle against pension reform”, the same announced before about fifty activists gathered in court his intention to appeal.