The unions fear that the tragedy of the suicides of the 2000s at France Telecom will happen again.
While the Court of Cassation examines this Wednesday, November 13, the appeals of Didier Lombard, former CEO of France Telecom, in the crisis which affected the company in the 2000s (35 suicides in 2008 and 2009), another wave of suicides occurring in recent months cast the shadow of a devastating social crisis over Orange (heir to France Telecom in 2013). Around thirty suicides over the past two years among a total of 65,000 employees according to the unions, reports Franceinfo today in a survey devoted to the subject.
“It’s a cry for help.”
This describes in particular the circumstances in which Philippe Le Gall, 53, killed himself on September 13, 2023, by hanging himself in his garage. The fifty-year-old had raised the alarm with his wife, after an attempt a month earlier. “I can no longer manage my work. I can no longer sort things out […] It’s a cry for help,” he told her.
His suicide was reclassified as a work accident. A civil servant at France Télécom, then an engineer at Orange, he devoted 32 years of his life to the company.
One of his colleagues told our colleagues that Philippe was afraid of losing his job, his job being doomed to “disappear in the medium term”. He worked “on slightly older networks which were in decline”, in a branch targeted by a voluntary departure plan with 640 positions eliminated.
Restructuring “to keep up with technological developments”
Reports from occupational doctors consulted by Franceinfo “show an increase in workload, uncertainty over the future of jobs and unclear objectives”, while Orange continues its restructuring, “to keep up with technological developments”.
Management doesn't see it that way. For Vincent Lecerf, human resources director at Orange, “the company must transform”. He emphasizes that an investigation is launched for each suicide and that the subject was raised by the board of directors in October.
He also mentions prevention, accompaniment and support systems put in place after the tragedies of fifteen years ago. The unions, except the CFDT, fear that the tragedy will repeat itself. They are demanding a moratorium, refused by management.
As a reminder, in December 2019, Orange and several of its executives and directors were convicted of “moral harassment”, ten years after this period nicknamed “the suicide crisis”.
