On the floors of the imposing Labor Exchange in Lille (59), around ten former employees and volunteers of the Secours populaire de Lomme rehearse their speeches out loud. After months of preparation, here they are in the starting blocks, ready to tell the story of the suffering they say they have experienced within the charity, become a key player in helping the most deprived in the Lille metropolis – with its various points of sale for clothing, household appliances and foodstuffs at reduced prices. Their first press conference is scheduled for this Saturday, accompanied by the CGT. “That’s it, I feel the stress starting to mount,” shivers Alice (1), her chin hidden in her scarf. The volunteer with graying hair joined the collective with the firm intention of no longer being silent in the face of the discomfort of her colleagues:
“I understood that there was a way of operating that ended up stinking up the lives of employees and, for some, crushing them. »
Everyone accuses the historic director of the local branch, Muriel Sergheraert, of managerial violence that has become unbearable. A collective complaint was filed and the offense of moral harassment was upheld by the police officers in charge of the case. In parallel, a judicial investigation for breach of trust within the structure has been opened by the public prosecutor last April. The head of the association, under fire from accusations and presumed innocent, had no choice but to resign from her mandate as deputy mayor of Lomme, which she had held for more than 20 years. However, she refuses to leave her position as director of Secours populaire de Lomme. Committed to the association for more than 45 years, she runs the local branch with an iron fist, which has become a family affair: her husband and three of her children have held positions as employees or members of the board of directors. administration. The employees speak of a “clan” which would unite around the director. “Now only the collective can stop it,” Alice concludes coldly.
Serial humiliations
When Amin (1) entered the association's doors in February 2014, he was undocumented and was looking to do a few hours of volunteering because he did not have the right to work. Very quickly, the site managers offered him an amicable deal: 28 hours of work per week without pay in exchange for regularization assistance. At that time, the fifty-year-old was in an administrative impasse and in great precariousness. He would have accepted the proposal. The Algerian would then have been responsible for electrical troubleshooting, repairs and handling. He would also be asked to help with the Arabic translation. He explains:
“I stayed for two years working as a volunteer with my wife. Then, Secours populaire paid me my rent of 460 euros in return. »
He waited four years before being regularized and signing his first employment contract. It would have followed six years of incessant bullying and humiliation : Amin is not invited to work meetings, isolated on the site, and systematically denigrated in front of his colleagues by Muriel Sergheraert. “She told me: ‘You are worthless’, ‘you are incapable of everything in general’, ‘you will not be able to find a job elsewhere’”, relates the employee in his complaint for moral harassment (2 ).
A recent episode particularly marked him. On March 29, after a disagreement over the work schedule, the director allegedly insulted him copiously:
“You idiot, you’re just a sinister character!” Asshole. »
A former employee present at the time of the incident confirms these remarks.
Two other former employees of the association would also have been humiliated by Muriel Sergheraert between 2020 and 2023. “I was the target of frequent anger, humiliating insults and deliberate isolationto the point that I came to dread every day of work,” insists Jean (1), employee of the association in 2021. He also filed a complaint for harassment against the director (2):
“These behaviors were not one-off but recurring and destructive. »
On May 16, 2023, Marc (1), another warehouse employee, allegedly suffered the same treatment in front of customers and his colleagues, according to a testimony he wrote: “ She screamed and insulted me as a scoundrel, asshole, wanker, good for nothing (…) The next day, I just cried to the point of wanting to end my life. » He says he suffers from “depressive syndrome” and “lives in anxiety” since these events. A customer, present that day, confirms having witnessed the verbal assault.
“All power”
“She doesn’t hesitate to say that it’s thanks to her that I got my papers and that she can make me take them away at any time,” sighs Amin, annoyed. In the spring of 2023, the employee decided not to let yet another intimidation of this type go by: “I stood up to him by telling him that I owe nothing to anyone. » An unbearable revolt for the person in charge, who would have become extremely angryaccording to the employee's account to investigators:
“I was squatting, busy putting away boxes and she came behind me and violently kicked me, telling me that I deserved it. »
During another altercation, the manager this time forced him to sweep the entire warehouse alone:
“She stayed next to me saying: ‘You see what you are doing, no one will ever be able to force me to do it unlike you’”.
Three former employees relate in their complaints (2) the orders and counter-orders imposed by the manager, sometimes with weeks of logistical work “destroyed” out of hand. “His remarks multiplied, nothing found favor in his eyes,” explains Jean. “It required changing everything on a whim, although the choices had already been validated in advance. » “She always makes us feel her omnipotence, making us understand that she knows people and that she will always win through her political status,” adds Amin.
A few weeks after the opening of the investigation for breach of trust, Muriel Sergheraert published messages on her Facebook account that the collective considers to be threats aimed at intimidating its detractor employees. “It is at the end of the ball that the orchestra is settled, the note will be presented, they will have to settle it, that I am sure,” she wrote, for example, on April 28. When one of her relatives suggests that she “beat the shit out of them”, she replies that her “heart is thinking about it” and that “if she gives in, she will call on him”.
During this same period, the manager also publishes several posts against those she considers to be profiteering from social security : “A necessary reminder, given that for some it is the holiday window. I must have missed a chapter. Honestly, shame on them! At the same time, for this they would have to have a conscience. » For Sophie (1), an employee who had just been placed on sick leave at the time of this publication, there is no doubt: the message is clearly intended for her. These posts will ultimately be deleted a few days later.
“We were all afraid”
Last May, the labor inspectorate visited the site following employee alerts on their working conditions. At least five employees – out of the association's ten or so – are still on sick leave and are being supported by occupational health. “I am destroyed, I suffer for my colleagues out of reflexivity,” murmurs Sophie, in tears. “I always wonder why I didn't stand up for them. We were all afraid. » The former employee of the resource center has just found a job after several stops and treatment with antidepressants.
“These practices have had a devastating impact on my physical and mental health. They reveal a systemic dysfunction within this antenna », insists Jean, who still cannot return to work after leaving the association three years earlier:
“The nights become an ordeal, haunted by incessant nightmares. Fear and anxiety keep me away from all activities. I feel reduced to shit.”
Jean-Pierre Deletrez, departmental secretary of Secours Populaire, promises that the Lomme branch “is an isolated case among the 72 committees which depend on the northern federation”. He explains that he never received a report on the behavior of Muriel Sergheraert before this affair and casts doubt on the words of the employees:
“The supporters of Madame Sergheraert recognize that she uses management that is certainly abrupt, but directed towards people who pose problems within the committee (…) We are not far from thinking that these are regulations of accounts. »
The national and departmental federation of Secours populaire still assures that it carried out an internal audit last summer, to shed light on accusations of financial embezzlement and moral harassment. The conclusions have still not been made. A few weeks ago, the local committee office was renewed and employees from the department were seconded to support the understaffed team. The collective of employees and volunteers intend to make their voices heard this Saturday, at the Lille Labor Exchange, during a press conference. Alice is moved:
“Let us not forget the motto of Secours populaire: “Everything that is human is ours”. We would like to see her work with her employees. »
(1) First names have been changed.
(2) StreetPress was able to view this complaint.
Illustration from front page by Caroline Varon.
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