A dozen employees of the Cagnes-sur-Mer department store mobilized for an hour by surprise this Saturday, November 30. They are demanding better reclassification or training offers after the closure of the store announced for February 18, feeling abandoned.
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General movement of anger on the Côte d'Azur this autumn weekend: after the garbage collectors' strike in the west of the Alpes-Maritimes, and the demonstration by nurses at the Sainte-Marie hospital in Nice, now employees of the Printemps department store in Cagnes-sur-Mer organized a surprise walkout this Saturday, November 30, from 3 to 4 p.m. Objective according to the unions, to show the opposition of employees to the announced closure of the store located in the former Polygone Riviera, scheduled for February 18, but also to say no to the measures proposed by management in the announced social plan.
► ALSO READ: “Polygone Riviera”, it’s over: change of name and new brands for the Cagnes-sur-Mer shopping center
Only a dozen employees finally mobilized, out of the 47 employed by the brand, to tow motorists arriving at the shopping center. A figure which could be explained by pressure from management, concerning reclassifications in the other brands of the Printemps Group, namely Citadium, the Place des Tendances site and Made in Design.
There are threats, employees are afraid of not having the chance to be reclassified correctly if they show their anger.
Faiza El Alami,CGT union representative – Spring
The proposed reclassifications are therefore clearly not satisfactory for the store's employees, the group also having no other brand in the Alpes-Maritimes. Enough to create serious concerns for employment, particularly for 24 people considered senior in the labor market. “SIn the Côte d'Azur employment area, there are no longer many jobs in retail“, explains another CGT representative. Everyone is therefore demanding more budget for possible training.
For several weeks, Polygone Riviera has become Shopping Promenade Riviera.
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© Hugues Nicolas / France Télévisions
Beyond this risk, it is a feeling of deep disappointment which prevails among the employees, who feel that they have been victims of a false promise on the part of the Printemps Group. “We all gave our all, a lot even, and I thought that a big company like Printemps wasn't going to let us down like that“, laments Laurence Sintes, sales advisor in the store.
According to the people involved, the store doesn't even want to “not that it is known“, thus justifying a delay of more than two months between the announcement made on September 12 and this”first contact with the media“.
When I joined Printemps, for me it was a dream, it was four stars!
Faiza El AlamiCGT union representative – Spring
In difficulty since the mid-2010s, the Printemps group has closed several stores in France in recent years, such as in Metz, Strasbourg, or part of its Parisian addresses. The brand has since preferred to focus on its central store on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, but also on its development abroad, in Qatar in particular. A turnaround for which Cagnois employees are paying the price.
Report by Damian Cormette and Hugues Nicolas
