“You are an employee who is eight times more likely to have accidents than others”; “You are one of the people who has the most sick leave” or “Regarding the position you want, we must have confidence, but your judgments do not encourage us to do so. »
These are some of the sentences that employees of Airbus Atlantic, in Nantes, reported to the CGT union. These are employees of the French aeronautics giant who have experienced work accidents and sometimes long absences. In addition to the interview with occupational health, these employees are summoned, before taking up their post, for a re-welcome interview with management, their manager or the human resources department. “Under the pretext of kindness, we ask them questions in an intrusive manner and we make them feel guilty about their absence,” denounces Jimmy Ballet, CGT Airbus Nantes secretary. Recently, an employee left in tears and was taken to the infirmary.
In a press release, the CGT, the second union at Airbus Nantes after the CFE CGC, denounces “a climate of fear”. “And this intensified with the arrival of Damien Guillon, director of Airbus Atlantic Nantes, in October 2023,” believes Jimmy Ballet, CGT Airbus Nantes secretary.
With 2,500 employees and 200 temporary workers, Airbus Atlantic Nantes is part of a group of 13,000 employees spread across five countries on three continents. 500 employees of the group are, on average, absent every day due to stoppages or work accidents, according to the CGT. A stop frequency rate that management would like to reduce to 3%. When asked, the management of Airbus Atlantic indicated that it did not have “any comment to make on this subject”.
