Covid-19: Bouygues Telecom targets less than 20% of partial unemployment

Bouygues Telecom will put less than 20% of its workforce on short-time work due to the coronavirus epidemic and will compensate for 15 days the loss of remuneration of the employees affected by this device, said its deputy general manager at Reuters on Sunday. Didier Casas rejected the CFDT's assertions that the telecoms operator gave up, under pressure from the unions, to lay off nearly a thousand client advisers and call center employees.

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He said the workers had been placed on short-time work last week for the group to acquire the computer equipment necessary to enable them to telecommute, when the agencies had to close due to population containment rules. . "We made this decision to protect them," he said. Overall, Bouygues Telecom "is putting in place a balanced system that reduces partial unemployment as much as possible, to less than 20% of the total workforce," said Didier Casas.

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While, according to the rules put in place by the government, an employee with partial unemployment only receives 84% ​​of his salary partially covered by the State, Bouygues Telecom "will compensate for the loss of wages for employees who are in partial unemployment ”during the first 15 days and“ will take care of the 16% who normally are in reduction of remuneration ”, declared the assistant general manager of the operator. In exchange, Bouygues Telecom asks its employees to take a week off.

The question of short-time working is agitating many sectors while the government has launched a massive support plan of 45 billion euros, notably allowing companies to reduce or temporarily suspend the activity of their employees, by paying them compensation. partly charged by the State. Labor Minister Muriel Pénicaud said Sunday that around 220,000 French companies had asked to benefit from partial unemployment on Friday, which concerns 2.2 million workers.

Telecoms operator SFR, a French subsidiary of Altice Europe, plans to lay off up to 60% of its workforce in the face of the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic, union representatives told Reuters on Tuesday, denouncing "an effect windfall ”.