Because they consider that they are insufficiently paid when they work on Sundays and public holidays, agents at the Brive swimming pool, in Corrèze, have started a strike. On the town hall side, we are surprised that social dialogue has been broken off in this way when answers had been promised by May 23.
Do you know how much the swimming pool agents in Brive (Corrèze) earn every Sunday or public holiday, whether they are responsible for reception, maintenance or monitoring the pools? 3.50 euros on top of their usual salary, for those who work six hours that day, provided they “fill out a small sheet and send it to the HR department”.
This remuneration, deemed insufficient, is the major reason for the social movement which started this Sunday, May 5, leading to the closure of the swimming pool, and which must be continued this Wednesday, May 8, with a strike picket in the morning. At this time, it is impossible to know whether the facility will be open or closed to the public on Wednesday.
“It’s the profession that wants that,” we remind the mayor’s office
The Brive town hall reminds that the swimming pool agents (there are around thirty of them operating this equipment) already receive an annual bonus for these public holidays and these worked Sundays. “Very few municipalities implement this bonus. But, apart from this bonus, the essence of the swimming pool’s work is to be open on Sundays, we insist in the mayor’s office. “It’s the job that wants that. When they sign their contract, they know that they are going to work on Sunday.”
On the side of the agents, we explain that the compensation in force is no longer enough. “This bonus corresponds to around twenty euros per month. We have already alerted the mayor about this by mail, three years ago. It is a recurring problem,” assures Chris Khider, deputy secretary of the CGT of the Brive town hall
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Historic strike on Sunday, extended to Wednesday May 8
It is therefore this wage demand which triggered, on Monday April 29, the filing of a strike notice then, this Sunday May 5, a strike which led to the equipment being closed to the public. A first since the opening of the facility in 2015, notes Chris Khider. “We were given an appointment on May 23, as if by chance, at the end of the public holidays,” underlines the trade unionist, who sees this discrepancy as the trigger for Sunday’s social movement. “Even us at the union were surprised that the agents went on strike on Sunday.”
A fairly unprecedented strike is looming within Brive town hall (June 2021)
In the mayor’s office, we understand that there is a “request for revaluation of bonuses” and we explain that the general management of services received agents and unions on April 26, promising a response on May 23. “If we want to do things seriously, it takes more than 48 hours to construct a response, we cannot do that with a wet finger.” The town hall refuses to take responsibility for the social movement. And inconvenience for users. “The agents themselves chose to break the dialogue and go on strike. It is their right.”
Unsuspected hardship
Listening to the union representatives, the question of remuneration is not the only one to have weighed in the balance. “When you come there for leisure, it’s completely different”, explains one of the swimming pool agents, who mentions the intense, very tiring noise, the changing rooms which are “not soundproof”, the “irritation due to fumes from chlorine” but also the incivility at reception… “It can be difficult to see the arduousness, insists trade unionist Chris Khider, because they work in shorts and flip-flops all year round…”
Users of the Brive swimming pool unhappy with the new price list (January 2022)
Difficult working conditions and insufficient remuneration, in the eyes of the agents, which would also explain the difficulty in recruiting and the turnover in the team. “They have really good people and they are losing them,” assures a member of the team. “There is a lifeguard who, for 30 euros that we didn’t want to give him, went to Tulle, where he earns 400 euros more…”
The town hall leaves the door open
From the mayor’s office, we assure that “the door to negotiations is open. If they want to stop the strike and return to the table, that’s up to them. We want appeasement.”
The CGT emphasizes that, without a way out, “no one will win: the agents, nor the town hall, nor the users.” Especially since the May public holidays are among the days when, usually, the use of the equipment explodes.
How Brive (Corrèze) encourages municipalities to participate in financing its swimming pool, useful to an entire region
Apple Labrousse
In reality, the union now brings together the territorial agents of the Brive town hall, the Agglomeration and those of the CCAS.
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