Six trade union organizations representing the staff of the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental council are calling for a strike this Thursday, January 23 against the newly announced move from Bobigny to Saint-Denis.
“No to the forced move”. This Thursday, January 23, six staff unions of the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental council are calling for a strike against the departure of 2,700 agents during the coming year from their historic headquarters of Bobigny to Saint-Denis.
Stéphane Troussel, the socialist president of the Department, announced this move on January 7. Staff representatives have since been organizing a response. Several general assemblies were organized with votes. Hundreds of agents expressed their disagreement and decided to mobilize to defeat the project.
The unions also received support from several political groups. The rebellious deputies of Seine-Saint-Denis published a joint press release in which they denounced the absence of “consultation and vote in the departmental council”. They also consider that this decision will have the consequence of “geographically decentering, but also of exclusively concentrating resources and means in a single area of Seine-Saint-Denis”.
The PCF of Seine-Saint-Denis and the political groups of the departmental council of Communists, rebels and citizens as well as ecologists joined in supporting the unions.
-A project to save money
Despite this mobilization, things have progressed well since the lease was signed between the department and the owner Icade for the entire Pulse building. This 29,000 square meter complex located in Saint-Denis at the foot of the Front Populaire metro station previously hosted the headquarters of the organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Games.
“The final lease for a firm period of twelve years will be signed by the end of the first quarter. Around 2,700 employees of the Seine-Saint-Denis departmental council will move into this emblematic building in the Parc des Portes de Paris, from by the end of 2025”, rejoiced Icade in a press release issued on the day the news was made official by Stéphane Troussel.
For the president of the departmental council, such a decision is justified by the dilapidation of the historic premises and the desire to achieve 10 million euros in savings thanks to a new building.
