Essential workers mobilising in Paris

Carers, cleaners, grocery shop workers and security guards are marching in Paris today. Through their union, CFDT Services, they are calling for long-promised improvements to essential workers’ conditions to be finally secured.

These are the workers who kept going throughout the pandemic, to make sure people had access to food and care. They were applauded then, now is the time to reward them. The recognition they are calling for consists of five pillars: pay, conditions & working time, training, career progression and social dialogue.

“For nearly two years this recognition has been under consideration, twenty-three monthly pay slips later and the question is still to be answered: when will it materialise?” questioned Véronique Revillod, deputy general secretary of CFDT Services. “The objective is for these workers to gain visibility. For there to be a recognition, they must first be known,” said Olivier Guivarch, General Secretary of CFDT Services.

#MarcheDesEssentiels: essential workers are mobilising in Paris today. It’s time cleaners, shop workers, carers & others got the recognition they deserve.

They’re calling for better:
? pay
??‍♀️ conditions & working time
?‍? training
? career progression
? social dialogue https://t.co/2rNo7lV4oJ

— UNI Europa (@UNI_Europa) February 3, 2022

“The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the need to upgrade these jobs that are too often underpaid and precarious. It is actions like this that show the way forward. Similar demands are echoed by essential workers across Europe. The narrative of work shortages in some of these sectors often leaves out the obvious solution: make these essential jobs more attractive and people will come. Essential workers deserve essential rights: a union voice, higher pay and quality working conditions,” said Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa.