- Title: FRANCE: France Telecom under pressure to end wave of employee suicides
- Date: 15th September 2009
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 14, 2009) (REUTERS) STAFF AT OFFICE FILING IN TO HOLD MINUTES SILENCE FOR DEAD COLLEAGUE (CAMERAS WERE NOT ALLOWED INSIDE) (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRANCE TELECOM EMPLOYEE, ELSA, SAYING: "(I feel) sadness. She was a colleague. It's really sad that it happened in the workplace." EXTERIORS OF FRANCE TELECOM HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF SEBASTIEN CROZIER, HEAD OF CFE-CGC UNION AT FRANCE TELECOM (SOUNDBITE) (French) HEAD OF CFE-CGC UNION AT FRANCE TELECOM, SEBASTIEN CROZIER, SAYING: "The company makes billions of euros a year, its profitability is extremely good, and revenues are always growing. New technology is not an industry in trouble. So that makes it even more unbearable for employees when they are told that their job is going overseas or to sub-contractors." SEBASTIEN CROZIER LOOKING AT COMPUTER SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (French) HEAD OF CFE-CGC UNION AT FRANCE TELECOM, SEBASTIEN CROZIER, SAYING: "We expect two important decisons from the government, which is our major shareholder with 27 percent. First, that they stop offshoring jobs in the telecom sector, which would reduce the need for restructuring in the company. And second, that they launch a major plan to deploy more fibre optic communications," (which would create more jobs in France.) CROZIER WITH COLLEAGUES IN OFFICE FRANCE TELECOM EMBLEM
- Embargoed: 30th September 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: France
- Country: France
- Topics: Industry,Employment
- Reuters ID: LVA6Q7XHZ1C3XFYIRKBJNE8OG6J7
- Story Text: Employees at France's telecommunications giant held a minute of silence on Monday afternoon (September 14) to commemorate a colleague who jumped to her death last Friday after a staff meeting.
The 32-year-old woman's death brings the total number of France Telecom employee suicides or attempted suicides to 19 since the beginning of 2008, including seven this year, according to union officials.
"(I feel) sadness. She was a colleague. It's really sad that it happened in the workplace," said Elsa, who works in the building where Friday's suicide occurred.
The spate of deaths has sparked a nationwide debate about working conditions in the former state utility, where employees have been forced to bend to the rigours of the marketplace since the group was privatised in the 1990s.
Sebastien Crozier, the head of the CGC union at France Telecom, blasted the profit-centred mentality which now permeates France Telecom.
"The company makes billions of euros a year, its profitability is extremely good, and revenues are always growing. New technology is not an industry in trouble. So that makes it even more unbearable for employees when they are told that their job is going overseas or to sub-contractors," Crozier told Reuters Television in an interview.
Senior France Telecom executives will meet with government officials on Tuesday (September 15) to seek a solution to the rash of suicides.
"We expect two important decisons from the government, which is our major shareholder with 27 percent. First, that they stop offshoring jobs in the telecom sector, which would reduce the need for restructuring in the company. And second, that they launch a major plan to deploy more fibre optic communications," (which would create more jobs in France.) said Sebastien Crozier.
France Telecom officials declined to comment ahead of Tuesday's meeting between Chief Executive Didier Lombard and France's Labour Minister, Xavier Darcos. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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