Sanofi’s employees decided to renew industrial action on Thursday after negotiations with management for higher wages in the context of inflation failed.
The strike, called by the four main French unions (CGT, CFTC, FO, CFDT), started on 14 November and mainly affected drug production sites. Out of nearly 20,000 employees, between 2,500 and 4,000 are on strike, according to the CGT, the second-largest union. Sanofi told EURACTIV that, for its part, between 4-6% of workers are on strike, representing 600 to 900 employees.
On Wednesday, Sanofi’s management offered them a 4.5% increase in 2023, with a bonus of €2,000. Sanofi told EURACTIV that it had made several proposals to the unions during the negotiations.
So far, all proposals have been refused. The proposals are “miserable,” Frédéric Dos Santos, a CGT union delegate, told EURACTIV France.
For their part, the strikers are demanding a 10% pay rise, accompanied by a bonus of €10,000 following the inflation hitting France, and more broadly Europe, hard.
A 10% wage increase would correspond to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) forecasts, which predicts record inflation of 10% for the coming year.
“We will not give up,” Dos Santos promises, as a new round of negotiations is expected in the coming days.
(Clara Bauer-Babef | EURACTIV.fr)
Source: euractiv.com
