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In a bakery in Tarn-et-Garonne, bread and rights
Amidst the flour and the scent of hot bread, the Louboulbil bakery in Castelsagrat (Tarn-et-Garonne) uses its leaven to swell its “gross inner happiness”, by establishing generous working conditions. “Decent salary” put in place, four-day week and ten weeks of vacation per year: for the more than 30 employees (17 full-time equivalent) of the bakery located between Agen and Montauban, the world of work does not have the same taste as elsewhere. “We should also count the number of bursts of laughter,” slips Jean-Pierre Delboulbe while walking his former hooker’s physique on the Valence d’Agen market. Two saleswomen from the company he created 27 years ago are busy selling bread made ten kilometers away, in a laboratory set up in the middle of the woods, opposite the family farm.”All that began when I was an executive at Vinci in Paris, and I only had five weeks of leave to go see my family and my in-laws,” this hyperactive 52-year-old explained to AFP. “For me, we had to start with a new way of get organized”, he says, after having launched into the bakery, alone, in 1997. – “anarchic enterprise” – Little by little, the company, organized as an agricultural cooperative using locally produced wheat, whose its own, grows and refines its social model. “Executives of large groups are entitled to stock options and RTT, but for those who have a CAP, there is neither profit-sharing nor RTT”, vituperates Jean-Pierre Delboulbe while showing, in his workshop, a table where the income of employees is detailed. The basic “decent salary” is based on the French median income and set at 2,000 euros net, above the average income practiced in the sector. Increases linked to seniority and bonuses increase the remuneration of all employees, depending on the company’s turnover. Louboulbil now sells its 300 tonnes of bread produced per year in 17 markets in the region, from Toulouse to Cahors via Agen and Montauban, and in a few local bread depots. The organization of work is also unique, with autonomy established as a key word. “We can say that we are an anarchic company, but anarchic in the sense that there is a lot of freedom,” assures Nathalie Tessier, saleswoman. “Everyone does their own market, everyone does their own rounds, there is no pressure, no control, there is not even an expectation of results, because in fact we work for us somewhere”, estimates the 52-year-old employee, who has been with the company for 12 years. This morning- there, Danièle, who does not wish to give her name, cuts figs to prepare bread for the holidays. She relishes this independence: “As long as the work is done in the right conditions and my colleagues are happy with me or my work, everything is fine, we get along very well, it’s almost idyllic, but you have to come work!” – “political act” -Jean-Pierre Delboulbe claims to have “wanted to do a political act”, inspired by his experiences in Brazil, Ukraine and by the ministry of “gross national happiness” established in Bhutan, in Asia. “I found it interesting to try to observe other criteria for the success of a business”, to fulfill three objectives: “tranquility, free time for everyone, including me, and money shared between us.”A triptych that made the rounds on social networks last month, with a video published by the regional newspaper La Dépêche du Midi accumulating several million views.”I didn’t think it was something so surprising,” laughs the boss and former engineer. “Now, we have a lot of activist customers who take the bread there, because they like it and because they like the social model.” And this model could well spill over to neighboring stands in the markets frequented by Louboulbil. “I was discussing it with a fellow trader,” says Nathalie Tessier. “She told me, ‘You’re selling me a dream, because I’d like to set it up on my farm, when I have the means to hire people!’ A dream that sells like hotcakes.fby /ap/cbn
