A-Infos (en) France, OCL CA #359 - Salary insubordination 359 (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

* 100 days of struggle and a victory for street educators in 
Loire-Atlantique
* Strike action at Scapest warehouses
* Manager dismissed and wages increased at Biocoop Paris 19th
* Nurses in New York return to work
* Strike ends at Kaiser Permanente
100 days of struggle and one victory for street educators in 
Loire-Atlantique
"We are employed under a contract status within the local public 
service, and the Public Interest Group (GIP) of the Loire-Atlantique 
department, which mandates our work, has decided to make our employment 
more precarious by unilaterally changing our working hours to 1,607 
hours per year, effective January 1, 2026. This corresponds to an 
increase in our workload equivalent to four weeks in exchange for a 
salary "increase" of EUR38 net per month." The majority of the 44 street 
educators in Nantes, Saint-Nazaire, Rezé, Orvault, and Saint-Herblain, 
employees of the Departmental Agency for Specialized Prevention, began 
an open-ended strike on November 19, 2025. Since a change in status in 
2012 that transferred them from the private to the public sector, they 
had been promised salary increases. Their salaries are EUR500 lower than 
those of their colleagues in other departments. The announcement of the 
elimination of four weeks of vacation and time off in lieu was the final 
straw, along with their working conditions. As of January 1, 2026, out 
of 44 educators, 11 were on sick leave, and 2 had resigned.

In February, the ADPS (Association of Private Security Professionals) 
backed down on its plan to eliminate four weeks of vacation. An 
agreement was reached regarding paid leave; "we signed on to the issue 
of flexible working arrangements. We are still losing vacation time 
compared to what we had before. Most of it has been converted into time 
off in lieu (RTT), but we now have the ability to individually choose 
our working hours." Working time has been reassessed with "6.5 days of 
compensatory rest for a total of 1,561 working hours per year (i.e., a 
total of 13 weeks of vacation and time off in lieu)," explains an ADPS 
press release, adding that "this compensation is based on multifactorial 
constraints related to the job, including shift work, evenings, and 
Saturdays." Regarding salary, there have been "two consecutive increases 
in 2025 and 2026, representing a total increase of 273 euros gross per 
month on average/educator (i.e. +10%)".

On February 26, after 100 days of struggle, the various parties reached 
an agreement. This agreement will be finalized at an extraordinary 
general meeting of the GIP scheduled for March 9.

This exemplary and victorious struggle was made possible by the 
convergence of several factors. First, the CGT and Solidaires unions 
remained uncompromising, unlike the divisions that often serve the 
interests of employers. And above all, from the very beginning of the 
movement, the intention to strike for an extended period was clear. A 
strike fund was quickly established so that striking workers could cope 
with the loss of income. A rolling strike with people determined to win 
will always be a thousand times more effective than sporadic days of 
politely asking to renegotiate the length of the chain with the "social 
partners." Management only understands the balance of power.

Sources: France 3 Pays de la Loire, Ouest France, Contre-Attaque, UL CGT 
Nantes,

Strike action at Scapest warehouses
Scapest (Société coopérative d'approvisionnement Paris-Est), located in 
Saint-Martin-sur-le-Pré (Marne), is the purchasing and logistics center 
for Leclerc stores in the Northeast region. 146 stores across eleven 
departments are supplied by this company. Scapest employs approximately 
642 people in the Châlons-en-Champagne area, the majority of whom are 
paid the minimum wage. Following a meeting on mandatory annual 
negotiations (NAO) on Friday, February 13, union representatives, 
supported by employees in the fresh produce, fruit and vegetable, and 
frozen food departments of the regional purchasing and logistics center 
for E.Leclerc stores, deemed the proposals put forward by management to 
be "completely insufficient and disconnected from their legitimate 
expectations." On February 16, 2026, employees at the site began a 
strike called by the joint union group Unsa, Sud Industrie/Solidaires, 
and CFDT. The strike was also joined by FO and the CGT. Employees are 
taking turns throughout the day in front of the company entrance. In the 
strike notice sent to management, the employees are demanding "a general 
3% wage increase and a EUR3,000 PPV bonus," while management is offering 
0.8% and EUR500. They are also demanding "concrete and immediate 
measures to end wage and treatment inequalities between staff categories 
and between men and women." Union representatives are specifically 
requesting "equal treatment for all Scapest employees, particularly 
regarding health insurance, regardless of their status, whether 
managerial or not. We all want to be on an equal footing in terms of 
health and safety." The action is taking the form of a filtering 
roadblock for trucks trying to enter the company's main site, rather 
than a total blockade. The aim is to "slow down operations."

110 temporary workers have been sent home since the start of the strike. 
On February 23, around a hundred employees opposed to the eight-day 
strike at Scapest confronted the strikers, led by the chairman of the 
board, the director of Scapest, and the CEO of the Leclerc supermarket 
in Fameck. Under pressure, the protesters lifted the blockade and 
allowed trucks to pass around 4 p.m. Management set February 24 at noon 
as an ultimatum to end the strike. After several hours of discussions 
with Scapest management, the unions ended the nine-day strike on 
Tuesday, February 24, 2026. According to the CGT union representative, 
"There is no agreement." In concrete terms, the main demands remain 
unchanged. According to the union, management is maintaining its 
position on the profit-sharing bonus set at EUR750, as well as on the 
increases for the cold weather bonus and the high-rise bonus. However, 
two issues need to be revisited this year: health insurance and vacation 
vouchers. The cost of health insurance is a major point of contention. 
"We pay EUR100 as a base rate for family health insurance. That's the 
basic plan; then there are additional options. And managers don't pay 
for their own health insurance." Discussions are planned, particularly 
in April, to review these arrangements. The unions are not entirely 
satisfied with this agreement, but, shaken by the previous day's events, 
they nevertheless chose to end the strike. "We would have liked to have 
more, but the progress on health insurance and vacation vouchers will 
already give us some purchasing power. We mustn't be too greedy and must 
know when to stop," acknowledged the Sud Industrie union representative.

Sources: L'Union, Ici Champagne, France 3 Champagne Ardenne

Manager dismissed and salaries increased at Biocoop Paris 19th
Sixteen out of twenty employees at the Biocoop Place des Fêtes store in 
Paris's 19th arrondissement went on strike on January 3, 2026. The 
strikers denounced abusive management practices (humiliation, constant 
pressure, intimidation, excessive surveillance, verbal abuse), stagnant 
wages despite increased sales, and a pervasive sense of tension in the 
store. "We will no longer work with this owner; she presents 
psychosocial risks within the company. (...) She has never acknowledged 
the toxic behaviors she has exhibited, and all the psychological and 
physical damage they have caused to employees. (...) We're not here to 
start a revolution, but to do our jobs in the best possible conditions, 
without stomach aches, without suffering from endometriosis flare-ups 
that last forever, without crying, without being afraid to go to work, 
without being afraid to speak to the boss." For example, here, an 
employee who has worked in the store for eight years earns a net salary 
of EUR1,560. This makes this graduate in horticulture, who works in the 
fruit and vegetable department, one of the highest earners. Yet, by 
comparison, some managers of other Biocoop stores pay their employees a 
minimum of EUR2,000 net per month. However, Biocoop Place des Fêtes is 
not an isolated case. The strikers have received numerous testimonies 
from all over France, from Rennes to Marseille, including Carcassonne. 
These are other employees, like themselves, who are subjected to toxic 
management and low wages in stores that claim to be organic, fair trade, 
and healthy.

The strikers signed an agreement on Wednesday, January 28, ending their 
25-day strike. They achieved their main demand: the removal of their 
manager, who also owned the store, after she had imposed "oppressive and 
toxic" working conditions. Their struggle also secured a wage increase, 
ranging from 9% to 6% over two years.

Sources: NVO, UL CGT 19th, Lutte ouvrière, L'Anticapitaliste, NPA 
révolutionnaires

All the striking nurses in New York have returned to work.
On January 12, 2026, 15,000 nurses (members of the New York State Nurses 
Association - NYSNA) from the three largest hospital groups went on 
strike after contract negotiations expired, ahead of the nurses' 
contract's expiration on December 31, 2025. The NYSNA called the 
preliminary agreements with Mount Sinai and Montefiore a "victory," 
stating that they included a 12% pay increase over the three-year 
contract, continued health benefits for nurses, measures against 
workplace violence, and protections for immigrant and transgender 
patients and nurses. Work resumed on February 14 for the 10,500 strikers 
from the two groups.

Some 4,200 nurses continued the strike. Local union representatives 
accused the union leadership of rushing a vote on a preliminary 
agreement they had already rejected during negotiations. A member of the 
NYSNA executive committee at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital denounced a 
"rushed operation" to align the agreement with those reached with other 
hospitals. An agreement with the NewYork-Presbyterian group, their 
employer, was signed. The agreement with the hospital group includes a 
wage increase of more than 12% over three years and also an increase in 
the number of nurses. Work resumed. "For a month and a half, through 
some of the worst weather the city has seen in years, the nurses at 
NYP[NewYork-Presbyterian]have shown this city that they will not accept 
any compromise on patient care."

An arbitrator awarded nearly $400,000 in February to some nurses at 
Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in NewYork-Presbyterian for having to 
work understaffed in 2023 and 2024, the union said, presenting it as 
evidence of the problems that led to the strike.

Sources: helm.news, infirmiers.com, wsws.org, France 24, American, 
Canadian, Swiss, Belgian and French press

Strike ends at Kaiser Permanente
After nearly five weeks of action, the historic strike by 31,000 nurses 
and other healthcare professionals at Kaiser Permanente ended on 
February 24. The strike by members of the United Nurses Associations of 
California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) was the 
largest indefinite strike by nurses and healthcare professionals in U.S. 
history. Their demands focused on improved wages and working conditions, 
including staffing levels. An agreement was eventually reached, allowing 
employees to return to work unconditionally. In parallel with the 
nurses' strike, more than 3,000 pharmacy and laboratory workers, 
represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers, also held a 
three-day action in February. This strike, while separate, was 
coordinated with the UNAC/UHCP movement.

However, this end of conflict does not mark the end of social tensions 
within the health insurance giant, with the announcement of a possible 
strike by mental health professionals.

Sources: wsws.org, nouvelles-du-monde.com

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4695
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