The Committee for the Defense of Cross-border Workers of Moselle will hold its general meeting on Sunday, November 17 from 9:15 a.m. at Sarreguemines town hall. During this great day of mobilization and protest, he will return to the ongoing battles.
Halberg-St Gobain, Halberg Guss, Ford, ZF, Tadano, Michelin… “1,500 cross-border jobs will be eliminated in Germany. A massacre!” deplores Arsène Schmitt, president of the Moselle Border Workers Defense Committee, who denounces “industrial carnage. All companies are relocated to the lowest social earners, in Romania, in Spain, encouraged by the European Union!”
13,000 members
These social plans do not bode well for the committee. “Our daily lives are linked to the disappearance of public service,” continues Hubert Krebs, vice-president. Cross-border workers encounter problems with family allowances, retirement, disability, disability, taxes, Social Security, unemployment, etc. They no longer speak German and have difficulty filling out the documents. And for Germans who live in France, it’s the opposite.” Of the 13,000 members of the committee, including 5,600 retirees, 1,500 are German.
General meeting on November 17
Members will be invited on Sunday, November 17 to the general assembly of the Defense Committee, at the Sarreguemines town hall, from 9:15 a.m. “A great day of mobilization and protest against all the discrimination that still affects the cross-border workers and to say no to social breakdown, relocations, war, work to the grave dictated by the European Union,” criticizes Arsène Schmitt.
The committee will recall its major victories in 47 years: the repeal of the CSG/CRDS on earned income, the right to the Carte Vitale, the reintegration into the local Social Security system of retired cross-border workers, the end of the double taxation… “A big case after seven years of fighting, which cost us a lot of money”: 100,000 euros in lawyer fees.
Pending files
In 2024, legal costs represented a third of annual contributions. “And we still have work to do.” Many issues have not been resolved: the extension of the local regime to student beneficiaries until the 24th birthday, “which is refused to us even though the texts are clear”, the back-to-school allowance, the repeal of the CSG-CRDS on German retirement, the refusal to entrust unemployment compensation to Germany, the non-recognition of the disability rate.
Yet another meeting is planned on this subject at the end of November with Bettina Altesleben, State Secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Saarbrücken.
Expand the hours
On average, during the year, delegates make 4,300 meetings, in addition to the 1,500 meetings with the secretariat, they respond to 7,000 emails and 6,000 telephone calls. “We started in our premises with two offices. All seven are busy”, not counting the offices in the annexes, from Bitche to Bouzonville, and the tax offices. The committee wishes to expand them.
Aurélie Klein
(Le Républicain Lorrain)
