Rabah Mekaoui, a worker at the Kronenbourg brewery for nearly thirty years, has accumulated no less than 177 short contracts throughout his beer career. Drum cleaner or electrician, he held all the positions at the Obernai factory (Bas-Rhin), often replacing the permanent staff during summer holidays which he never tasted, always available, never sick, essential . At 60, approaching retirement, the one everyone nicknamed “Ali”, had wanted to do his accounts and he had been convinced by comrades in 2019 to hire a lawyer to claim his rights: a requalification of his countless contracts into a single permanent contract, with the key, the seniority recognized by this company at social reputation.
The Labor Court of Saverne (Bas-Rhin) dismissed it on Tuesday 1is February, for all its requests. “We have decided to appeal to the social chamber where we have every chance of being heard”, reacted Me Nicole Radius, who defends him.
With its 800 employees, the Obernai brewing site, owned by the Danish group Carlsberg, is the largest in Europe. One in three beers consumed in France comes out of its chains – i.e. 700 million liters per year – day and night. Seasonal workers have long remained essential to the beer cycle, which was produced in winter to be sold to thirsty consumers in summer. Kronenbourg claims to be able to demonstrate this seasonality by “accounting and economic data”. But today the market thrives all year round and Me Radius, during the industrial tribunal hearing held in mid-November 2021, pleaded “the abuse of seasonal contracts” on the part of the brewer, already condemned several times in this area. Case law should prove him right: in its latest decision, in October 2021, the Court of Cassation ruled in favor of a chambermaid employed seasonally in a hotel.
Ordinary racism
The judgment of Saverne is satisfied with a more than succinct motivation – “The number of hours and the nature of Mr. Mekaoui’s contracts do not allow us to conclude that he occupied a permanent job within the Kronenbourg company. » For the company, there was no file, except that of a temporary worker like the others who would have asked “Give him a gift” to retire.
But Kronenbourg told Mr. Mekaoui that she would not take him back as soon as the procedure was initiated. He would have liked to continue working until he was 62 years old. The case, for his lawyer, is thus a matter of violent discrimination, confirmed by several testimonies and by the worker himself. Me Radius demonstrated by going through the personnel registers that no worker with a North African-sounding name had joined production between 2012 and 2020, among the 271 recruited on permanent contracts. Saverne’s judgment does not produce evidence to the contrary. The company cited the two union representatives CFDT and FO, who defend it by ensuring that they have never been aware of acts of discrimination.
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