On Wednesday October 9, the social chamber of the Court of Cassation definitively condemned the Post Office in a dispute opposing it to a Sud-PTT Girondin union representative. The case dates back to 2018. “At the time, a sanction was imposed on this union representative working on the Bègles parcel platform, who had called a strike in support of four colleagues threatened with dismissal,” recalls Willy Dhellemmes , from Sud-PTT.
The employer had sent him a warning, considering that he had “spoken in disregard of the rules relating to the exercise of trade union rights. » The employee reacted to have the sanction canceled and request compensation for his damage. The case was examined by the industrial tribunal in 2018, then the Bordeaux Court of Appeal in 2022, which ruled in favor of the employee, ordering the company to pay him 3,000 euros in damages and interest.
“Disproportionate”
La Poste appealed to the Court of Cassation, to argue that speaking engagements “can only take place within the framework of a monthly information meeting or a meeting […] outside working hours, and provided that the head of the establishment is informed in advance. »
The Court, however, found, in turn, that “this agent had not committed abuse in the exercise of his freedom of expression” and that “the disciplinary sanction pronounced by the employer was disproportionate. »
This decision comes in an extremely tense social climate “For 2023-2024, only in Gironde, we have nine different convictions for union discrimination or infringement of the right to strike, whether at the industrial tribunal, by the court of appeal or by the judicial court,” indicated Sud-PTT at the end of July.
Willy Dhellemmes himself is the subject of a three-week layoff for “lack of respect” towards an executive. “It’s still a question of “unauthorized” speaking,” comments the person concerned.
Contacted by “Sud Ouest” to react to this conviction, La Poste “takes note of the decision of the Court of Cassation. »
