The suspension of a labor inspector, accused of having disobeyed his hierarchy during confinement, illustrates the sharp deterioration in relations between the labor inspectorate, very attached to its independence, and its supervisory ministry, say unions which sound the alert.
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Anthony Smith, inspector in the Marne, was suspended in mid-April for " reason of service ", according to the Ministry of Labor who accuses him of having " deliberately, seriously and repeatedly disregarded the instructions of the central authority of the system inspectorate regarding the action of inspection during the Covid-19 epidemic ”.
Anthony Smith was summoned to a disciplinary committee on July 21 in Paris for having initiated, in particular, an interim procedure against a home help structure, "a major provider of jobs in Reims ", according to the CGT (1st union ).
But for Astrid Toussaint (SUD Travail, national council), it is because he “ courageously dared ” to do his job that this militant CGT and representative on the National Council of Labor Inspectors is summoned. “ This is an exemplary case, I have never seen that in 40 years of career. In a situation (during confinement) where employees who provided home support without any protection fell ill, and while despite all the internal alerts nothing was done, he did only his duty ”, adds she.
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The CGT, SUD, FSU, CNT and FO unions of the labor inspectorate have referred the Smith case to the International Labor Organization (ILO), based in particular on Article 6 of Convention 81 of 1947 " which makes the labor inspectorate independent of any undue external influence ”.
They also publicly reported testimony from labor inspectors who were deterred or prevented from visiting corporate sites by their superiors since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, officially to protect the coronavirus agents.
"Witch hunt"
Brigitte Pineau, from Unsa (3rd union), believes on the contrary that " several circulars were taken to protect the agents" from the virus , " many of whom were able to do their work in the field ".
Like the CFDT (2nd union), Unsa says " cruelly lacking factual elements to position itself " and hopes that the joint administrative commission charged with examining the Smith case "will make it possible to say whether the administration has or has not lived up to the commitments ”. “ Our own hierarchy plays the witch hunt internally. This is unacceptable! Many are disgusted by so much contempt and disregard, they want to leave or retrain, ”says Julien Boeldieu (CGT).
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This in a context where the 1,874 labor inspectors responsible for controlling 1.8 million companies, or 18 million employees, are already insufficient in number to do their job, with one inspector for more than 9,500 employees, down 6 , 5% since 2014, according to the Court of Auditors.
The General Directorate of Labor (DGT) has resumed since 2018-2019 " stronger management of the labor inspection system ", explains for its part its deputy director, Laurent Vilboeuf. " Concretely, we set national objectives, not to caporalize, to take control of the inspection ", but "to have a stronger impact on central themes of the Labor Inspectorate ", he explains to the 'AFP.
This " more precise steering " and the tensions linked to the Covid-19 period, he said, may have contributed to the deterioration of relations with certain union organizations. " During this Covid period, which tense everyone, we organized the intervention modalities, but we never prohibited a control, never, " says Vilboeuf, for whom " it was out of the question to leave our agents, employees of the public, exposed to the risk of contamination ”. Pierre Mériaux, head of the Snutefe-FSU at the Ministry of Labor, denounces, however, " an increasing corporalization of the ministry ".
The future “ will very much depend on the outcome of the proceedings against Mr. Smith ” because there is “ a fracture and a total distrust of the agents towards their hierarchy. Either the Directorate-General for Labor recognizes that Anthony Smith did his work in a spirit of public service, or it makes an example of it and it will be internal war, "he warns.