The moment of truth is approaching for Atos employees. The ongoing procedure on the financial restructuring of the group, led by the judicial administrator Hélène Bourbouloux, should end this Friday, May 31, to find a final agreement by July. Three financial offers were accepted, those formulated by Daniel Kretinsky’s company EP Equity investment, by the consortium between David Layani’s company Onepoint and Butler Industries, and by the group of creditors. The State has added itself to the list by indicating its interest in the group’s strategic assets, such as supercomputers, cybersecurity activities and even the control and control systems of nuclear power plants.
Debt reduction appears to be on track, with David Layani having reached an agreement with a large part of the bondholders and banks, according to Les Echos, with his competitor Daniel Kretinsky continuing the negotiations. But in these financial negotiations, employees are the forgotten ones. “We fear a complete dismantling“, alarms Alia Iassamen, coordinator for the Atos CDFT. A few days before the deadline for the decision to rescue the group, its union called on the investors who were candidates for the takeover as well as the government, at a time when “the group arrives at a turning point in its history“. The organization proposes five criteria to evaluate investor proposals: job protection, preservation of the group’s scope, the formulation of an industrial project, the question of debt and the establishment of governance involving the group’s employees.
“Save Atos”
The Atos unions, interviewed by Novethic, have been campaigning, since the start of the company’s difficulties, to avoid the sale by apartments. “Our concern is to save Atos because everything has been built to provide an end-to-end offer to customers. Cutting everything is not that easy“, explains Emmanuel Kilgus, CGT coordinator at Atos. The State’s announcements to secure part of the sovereign activities are insufficient for the union which wanted the State to commit to the capital of Atos to ensure the sustainability of the group. “We fear social breakdown, and no one talks about it“, deplores the trade unionist.
Internally, communications from management are intended to be reassuring, but the uncertainty over the future profile of the group is worrying. Will the next buyer want to keep all the activities? What are the risks for cross-functional and support functions? For the moment, none of the candidates for takeover have made a firm commitment on employment, despite requests from trade union organizations.
Plane cut on variable parts
And the worry is growing. Especially since working conditions are starting to deteriorate. The obligatory annual negotiations on salaries got off to a very bad start at the end of April. The group’s management announced, without too many surprises, that the increases would be lower than in 2023, according to the CFE-CGC. Worse, Atos has decided to cut back on the variable part of remuneration for those who are subject to it. According to the union, the company’s management justified its decision by the fact that “many internal objectives were not achieved“, which resulted in a 25% reduction in the variable remuneration plan.
“When we start to touch salaries, the union organizations’ hair stands on end. This cannot be an adjustment variable!“, exclaims Karine Dran, coordinator of the CFE-CGC. Nearly 15% of the French workforce is affected by the measure, and employees are making their anger known to the unions. “We have never received so many dissatisfied emails, with employees asking to go to court“, remarks Alia Iassamen.
Until now, the group’s workforce is nevertheless holding up, without hemorrhaging personnel, apart from the usual turnover in digital services companies. “What characterizes Atos is the resilience of its employees“, wants to believe Karine Dran. But the soap opera of the last two years, the final episode of which will be played from May 31, risks leaving its mark. “All the energy, in time and finance, used to reorganize undermines our ability to bounce back“, believes the trade unionist.
