CGT
Virgin
	
cgtvirgin@yahoo.fr

“ A river that devastates the land is said to be violent,
but no-one ever speaks of the violence of the banks that hold it in ”
Bertold BRECHT

Virgin is on strike today. Here are are our reasons:

Virgin is mostly known as a prestigious trade name with a mythical store on the Champs Elysées, but it is also a chain of stores now becoming the new flagship of the “ Distribution and Services ” branch of the Lagardère group. The division has upped its income by + 38.8 %, thus contributing to the “ excellent performance of Lagardère Média ” for 2001 (in Résultats annuels 2001 of the Lagardère group) !

But of course, the group demands that its subsidiaries part with as little money as possible, since it needs the maximum upstream to finance its pharaonic project for its activities in computer technology (especially television), to satisfy its investors and to give extravagant pay to its executives. Arnaud Lagardère is even “ looking for something big to buy, something that will transform his group ”, according to the March 23 edition of the evening newspaper Le Monde. So he does have money, and lots of it !

We are now at the bargaining table, and our boss refuses to meet our demands:

1. An across-the-board 4 % pay increase, with the guarantee that newly hired people will always be given initial pay 4 % over the minimum wage and that far-reaching negotiations will begin immediately on qualifications and the pay schedule (60 % of workers are still close to the minimum wage level even after 2 or 3 years on the job). But ...
2. that must be combined with the reinstatement of a 13th month paycheck and the introduction of a real bonus for seniority (to reduce turnover) and...
3. real coverage of sick leaves !

Our point is to make them understand that we are no longer willing to be sacrificed on the altar of Their success. We want our share of the benefits of growth, not just pay increases that simply compensate for inflation. Dear customers, now more than ever before, we want to serve you, but not at any price. We want to work fewer hours, with better working conditions. We don’t want to kill ourselves making a living...  We want to make it clear that we are extremely determined, and we are going to win !

CUSTOMERS, SIDE WITH US !

PRECARIOUS WORKERS and Co.
We are doing a good job frightening our bosses !

We all work on the Champs Elysées. We work on an exceptional avenue, in exceptional shops, with exceptional work schedules ... So when will they give us exceptionally good working conditions and pay !?!
In shops and elsewhere, precarious work is now practically the rule (with fixed-term contracts, imposed part-time work, interim work, etc.). This goes along with the systematic deregulation of schedules (the annualization of working hours, development of work on night shifts and on Sundays and holidays) whenever and wherever feasible. Practically 60 % of people working in stores earn the minimum wage. Under the pretext that we are “ young ” they make short shrift of our lives. The “ 35-hour week ” has been used to introduce such flexibility with so few extra people hired that for most workers it has meant a greater work load. In addition, in return for the shorter working week workers were often obliged to accept a salary freeze and the loss of some welfare benefits such as the payment of a 13th month and the right to rest on holidays. Only when the workers and unions fought actively did they sometimes obtain a satisfactory agreement. This supposed quantitative “ gain ” of time therefore hides an unprecedented qualitative loss. And the contrast is all the more striking since we have learned that the earnings of the major French bosses increased by over 36 % in 2001 !
The tendancy nowadays is to cut back on the benefits won in earlier days ! But we have seen victories: the workers at the Strasbourg-St.-Denis MacDo won after 115 days of striking, those at the FNAC Champs-Elysées after 32 days of intense struggle...  There are now unprecedented movements going on, including strikes in a number of famous trade-name places including Go Sport, Monoprix, Disney Land, Pizza Hut, Virgin, the MacDos on the Champs Elysées and on bd. St-Germain...
The directors of all of our prestigious trade names have set up a “ Champs-Elysées Committee ”, forming a real bosses coalition aimed at dividing workers and cutting them off from each other. The workers on the Champs-Elysées refuse to view each other as competitors. To the contrary, we are now united, we are sticking together and are determined to defend ourselves !

We demand, for all shops and service activities:
. minimum pay at hiring of 1000 euros net (gross earnings, slightly under 1300 euros, or 8500 francs)
.  strict respect of union rights
.  payment of a 13th month for all workers
.  complete payment of sick days
.  conversion of fixed-term contracts to permanent contracts for workers who so desire
.  full-time work for all part-time workers who so desire
.  strict respect of the rules regulating working conditions, hygiene and security
.  repeal of work at night, on Sundays and holidays in its present form.

Welcome to the most prestigious precarious-work avenue !

INTERENSEIGNE DES CHAMPS ELYSEES
Decathlon, Disney, FNAC, McDo, Monoprix, Morgan, Quick, Sephora, Virgin…
Contacts : Gwennaël (Virgin) 06.61.89.58.98 – cgtvirgin@yahoo.fr - Jean-Marc (UL CGT du 8e) 01.43.87.89.92 – ul.cgtvirgin@wanadoo.fr
Collective for solidarity with the striking Champs Elysées workers

AARRG, AC!, Alternative Libertaire, CGT (Collectif CGT de la restauration rapide, BHV, Spectacle, FIAP, FNAC, Louvre, Disney, IBIS-Groupe ACCOR, Pizza Hut, Maxi-Livres, Mc Do Champs Elysées, Correcteurs, Virgin), CNT 95, Comité MRAP Vè-XIIIè, Compagnie Jolie Môme, Coordination des Travailleurs Précaires, COSIMAPP, Fédération anarchiste Groupe Louise Michel, G10-Solidaires Paris, Jeunesse Communiste Paris, Jeunesse Communiste Révolutionnaire, Jeunes Verts, Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire, Organisation Communiste Libertaire, Parti Communiste Français, Réseau Stop-Précarité, SCALP-Reflex, Les Verts Paris, Voie prolétarienne/Partisan ainsi que de nombreuses personnes à titre individuel.

Coordination  of the solidarity collective : Abdel MABROUKI  : 06 09 53 68 08 / Bernard 06.19.72.88.89