At Decathlon, social movements are rare enough to be noted.
On Saturday, October 16, a strike - presented as the first in the history of the brand by the unions - affected some stores in the Paris region and in the provinces in the form of walkouts.
At the call of the CFDT, the third union formation represented within the company, behind the CFTC and the Snad (National Autonomous Union Decathlon), the mobilization concerned 800 people according to the organizers, four times less according to the management .
A new action is already planned.
At the heart of the demands: wage increases in a context of "record profits in 2021", according to Sébastien Chauvin, CFDT central delegate.
The latter underlined "the lack of fair play" of the parent company of Decathlon, which spoke of "a participation of 1.13% of the workforce".
According to him, the management minimized the movement by including in its calculations all the 22,400 employees of the sports brand, including those who did not work on weekends.
"Most of the employees are at 1700-1800 euros gross"
For the CFDT, the mobilization shows that the salary problem is central in this company where "most of the employees are at 1700-1800 euros gross", with an average of four years of seniority, and a very high turnover.
“Management told us that salary discussions were traditionally scheduled at the end of the year,” continues the union.
But, in the meantime, gasoline and energy prices are rising and the bills have to be paid.
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An agreement signed this summer had, however, recorded a 4% increase in basic wages just above the minimum wage.
"However, with the automatic increase in the minimum wage, the increase has lost its effectiveness," said the trade unionist.
"Decathlon is one of the rare companies to have signed an agreement sharply increasing base salaries, even though a major economic crisis is still underway", comments for its part the management of the group.
However, the latter recognizes that its employees, "like French society, are concerned by these questions" on purchasing power.
