Differences of opinion between union representatives and Carrefour management.

Trouble has been brewing on Carrefour's shop floor since August, and now an open letter to Monaco Carrefour's 355 employees dated 12th October and signed by union and worker representatives suggests that the retail outlet's management has not been entirely truthful. The letter was in reply to a previous one sent by manager Marie-Madeleine Liesse on 30th September, which explained that the union reps had refused to agree to Carrefour's proposals.

Liesse's communication claimed that management had proposed a package of benefits which included:

• salary increase
• modified motivational bonus
• more meal tickets (tickets restaurants)
• higher attendance bonus
• reintroduction of the advance on daily compensation for hospitalization or illness
• extra month's compensation for illness
• accrual of half-hour per day for each day worked by pregnant women
• accrual of a day's rest for a night shift
• 7% discount on purchases

Management claimed that taken in total, the offer would have raised Monaco workers' annual purchasing power to 8% above that of their French colleagues.

In the open reply, union reps stated that management's offer to increase gross salaries by 1.5% was well below the 5% requested and needed to bring them into line with those in France. The letter also stated that the motivational bonus is the lowest it has been since 2005. According to the reps, Carrefour Monaco is one of the most profitable outlets of the group, with annual profits of 13 m euros from 2007 to 2009. They claim that if management paid 5% of the profits to workers, it would equate to an average 2000 euros per employee per year. Reps are pushing for equivalent salaries to those paid in France, as well as health insurance benefits similar to those paid to managers and supervisors, job guarantees, and profit sharing.

There is to be a day of action on 17th November, with the possibility of a strike in December.

Carrefour: "lies?"

Carrefour: a strike in December?