“Used then thrown away like tissues”sighs one of them. This is the feeling that drives everyone today. Between August and December 2024, these five men all started work as delivery drivers. Employed by a subcontracting company based in Charente-Maritime, they traveled or still travel aboard utility vehicles – owned by another company – to deliver groceries to customers from a large supermarket in the metropolis. “I was contacted in August via France Travail and I was promised a permanent contract”indicates one of them. He is then asked to find other candidates.
56 hour working week instead of 20
“I found two. We started working in August and September, but without a contract. It only happened on November 18th”he laments. He wouldn't be the only one. Alongside him, another worked from December 2 to 17, 2024, “i.e. 108 undeclared and unpaid hours”he whispers. “I worked from October 26 to December 21. I never had a contract, I worked 208 hours just for November. I often asked for my contract because I didn’t want to work illegally”adds a third. Who would never have been paid. No more than another, who started on November 25 and only signed his contract on December 16.
Others got their due but with delay. The last received fragmented salaries. Another says he started in September and only got a contract on November 18, too. In this, the weekly working time is set at 20 hours. “But apart from once or twice, I’ve always done more. In December, I have a week over 56 hours! “, he chokes. “Working like that is never comfortable. We feel like we're in an ejection seat. He can fire us without paying us”he adds.
“I didn’t do things on time”
The labor inspectorate was contacted. An inspection was carried out on January 13, 2025 in the supermarket. Contacted, the Regional Directorate of the Economy, Employment, Labor and Solidarity (Dreets) Centre-Val de Loire does not communicate on the subject. However, it confirms that it has been seized and recalls that after an inspection, several actions can be taken: observation letter, report sent to the prosecutor, penal settlement or administrative sanction.
-Implicated, the business manager first recognizes that “from an administrative point of view, I’ll be very honest, I didn’t get things done on time. I am aware of it. » But today, he assures us, everything would be in order with the current five to seven employees. One of them, however, assured us that he was still waiting for pay slips and the equivalent of two months of work. “That’s not true. I never intended not to pay them”replies the business manager again.
A small structure
He places the blame for these late payments on his client, who is late in paying the invoice. Contacted, he did not respond to our requests. For its part, the supermarket did not wish to comment either.
The Charente business leader continues: “There have been discussions, sometimes complicated, with my clients on this subject. The contract is in flux. I don't know if I will still have the contract in a week. When my customer's invoice is collected, I will no longer have any problems. I'm having trouble but I'm trying to do what I can. I am a small structure, I am starting. Everything is being regularized”he assures.
