the fate of The customs should specify this Tuesday. “The minister has reserved his entire morning for us to receive,” announces Vincent Thomazo, the secretary-general of the Unsa Customs. The intersyndicale of the customs is, in fact, received as early as 9: 30am by the minister in charge, Gérald Darmanin, who is responsible for the Action and of the public Accounts.
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The trade unions met on Monday to prepare for this hearing and tune their violins. “We are going to present a common message to show the urgency of our demands,” warns Vincent Thomazo. Their demands are clear: numbers and additional material, new infrastructure and better financial benefits. In the meantime the government response, they would continue the strike that began early last week and extended throughout the territory until at least Tuesday morning.
Decisions in haste
If these applications are not especially new, the situation is more significant. In fact, on Friday, march 29, the official date of the Brexit, is approaching at a great pace and the trade unions lamented the unpreparedness of the government. “The French government has never believed in “Brexit”, they are in denial the more total!” is concerned that the secretary-general of the Unsa. “The decisions should have been taken a year ago, not three weeks of the Brexit”.
Despite the announcement in the autumn of the creation of 700 posts of customs additional, Vincent Thomazo judge the government’s efforts inadequate: “There should be at least the double to be able to manage the Brexit! Not to mention that in parallel, 100 positions were eliminated elsewhere.” In addition, 700 new customs, still in formation, will not reach on the labour market in three months. In the meantime, Vincent Thomazo tip “calls the emergency customs of the whole of France to get to Calais and Dunkirk before the Brexit”. He laments that “one of the empty offices, which will lead to an increase in the work of all the customs, without any consideration”.
“The agents Brexit will be agents beginners in a precarious situation that will have to work nights and weekends.”
The unionist point then the degradation of the working conditions of customs officers. “The government has planned to open two offices in Calais (80 agents) and Dunkerque (30 agents) who will turn 24 hours on 24, and these offices pose several problems. For the moment, the structures are still under construction, which means that the agent will work in deplorable conditions. In addition, these are the new “agents Brexit”, still in training and inexperienced, which are provided to this post rather complex. Finally, there is still no specific status, or benefits that are dedicated to this position. In summary, the agents Brexit will be agents beginners in a precarious situation that will have to work nights and weekends”.
In this regard, the inter-union calls for the revaluation of premiums hours of the night at seven euros gross, compared to 1.8 currently, a risk premium and the support of at least 50% of the mutual. The repeal of the day of deficiency and a “premium Brexit” are also part of the claims.
A strike which intensifies
on Monday, the strike which commenced at Dunkirk and Calais tended to expand in the whole of France. “We had requested the government in mid-February, and had not received a radio silence, where these controls strengthened”, explains Vincent Thomazo.
The trade unionist said that he is not “one strike per se. On the contrary, we do more than apply the letter of the legal procedures, and it is this that irritates the government, because this practice is unassailable”. “The government has responded by asking us to fluidify the traffic, i.e., not to make of controls, which is contrary to our function. However, our objective is not to take France hostage”.
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on Monday, the secretary-general of the Unsa pointed to a “fifty controls reinforced throughout the country”. In the first line, the Eurostar. The traffic of the railway line from London to Paris continued to be disrupted in the beginning of the week. Two trains cancelled, several hours late for the other connections. To go to London from Paris, gare du Nord, it was necessary to arm itself of patience. On Monday morning, the rail company Eurostar announced the cancellation of trains 8h37 and 16h04 from Paris.”
“All of our services are delayed up to two hours from Paris Nord and Lille Europe, until 12 march, due to “strikes of the zeal” of the French Customs,” said Eurostar. The company said that the passengers affected by the disruption could exchange their tickets or claim a refund via this page. Eurostar advises its customers to “travel only if necessary”.
outside of disturbances of the railway traffic, the SGC has identified on its website all the new disturbances. This Monday at noon, the union noted in particular the airport of La Rochelle, entered Sunday night in the process of strengthened controls. Monday morning, the port of Saint-Malo was also disrupted. The ferry from 10.15 am embarking for England has had such a late hour. The other port breton Roscoff is always in the strike, as well as the airports of Lyon St Exupéry, Paris-Roissy and Paris Orly.
