Undocumented workers in France embark on strike

Hundreds of undocumented workers launched a coordinated strike movement in more than 30 companies in Ile-de-France on Tuesday morning to denounce their “overexploitation” and demand their regularization.

In total, around 500 people, mainly from Africa, occupied 33 construction, logistics, cleaning and even distribution companies on Tuesday where they are employed, mainly in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis.

A few steps from the Stade de France, 34 of them entered the headquarters of a temporary employment company in Saint-Denis, for which they are employed as garbage collectors or construction workers, particularly on construction sites. Olympic Games and Greater Paris.

Accompanied by union activists, they displayed a CGT banner and promised to occupy the premises until their “regularization”.

The majority of strikers work as temporary workers for subcontractors, "for the benefit" of giants like Véolia, Chronopost and Carrefour, which "makes it possible to mask the overexploitation" of these undocumented immigrants, denounced in a communication the CGT, which supports their action.

“We are on strike in our companies to win our regularization and our rights,” assure those concerned in this text.

“We want to make things happen,” explained Mamadou Kébé, who obtained his regularization after a year of strike between October 2008 and 2009.

“These workers must be able to enjoy the rights for which they contribute and pay taxes,” judged the man who now leads the immigration collective of the CGT 93.

Between 7,000 and 10,000 workers are regularized each year. Insufficient, for the CGT, which estimates this workforce at several hundred thousand people.

In Ile-de-France, immigrants represent “40 to 62% of workers in the home help, construction, hotel and catering, cleaning, security and agri-food sectors ”, insists the union in its press release.