Taken over a few months ago for a symbolic euro, the Leader Price of Montmirail has been abandoned by the new manager who no longer pays salaries to her employees.
Fridges that break down and are not repaired, suppliers are paid more and shelves are empty… These are the conditions in which the employees of Leader Price in Montmirail (Marne) worked. And the situation has only deteriorated in this abandoned store since the five employees have not been paid for three months.
A decline which began last summer, after the supermarket was taken over by a new manager for a symbolic euro: “She came in March. We thought she was good. But at the end of July, no more deliveries. And we could see that our pay slips were arriving later and later,” a store employee told BFMTV.
The pay slips ended up not arriving at all from October onwards. So much so that the employees took sick leave in November. The store was immediately closed. “I am still under contract so I cannot apply for unemployment and I do not receive any daily allowance because my boss does not send the pay slips to the CPAM (Primary Health Insurance Fund, Editor’s note),” continues the employee interviewed by BFMTV.
A hearing at the Commercial Court on January 16
She and her colleagues alerted the CGT, which discovered that the store owner owned five other supermarkets experiencing a similar scenario. Regarding the Montmirail store, a hearing before the Paris Commercial Court is scheduled for January 16.
“We wanted to go through the courts and close it so that there would finally be a breach of the contract, so that they could at least obtain unemployment. Afterwards, we would go through the industrial tribunal to recover salaries and we will see if we have to go even further, to the point of criminal charges, if they really have been fooled from the very beginning”, explains Steve Boucly, departmental secretary of the CGT union in Marne.
In the meantime, the city is trying to help the employees concerned: “We opened our Christmas market to employees. They had the opportunity to set up a stand for free to sell a few pancakes and some hot drinks. Then, we opened a grocery store united to help”, says Pascal Hourlier, mayor of Montmirail.
The elected official hopes to find a buyer for the store as quickly as possible. Contacted by BFMTV, the owner did not respond to our interview requests.
Blandine D'alena, Alizé Boissin, Corentin Guist'hau and Mathilde Danion
