Left-wing elected officials, trade unionists and associative and intellectual figures warned in a forum against the appointment of Muriel Pénicaud at the head of the International Labor Organization, seeing it as a possible "
danger
". The initiative for this text published on Sunday by the daily
L'Humanité
comes from Mathilde Panot and Thomas Portes, co-chairs of the support committee for Anthony Smith, as well as to the latter, union official at the Ministry of Labor. This labor inspector was suspended in April 2020 for having demanded that a home help company provide masks to its employees, while this protective equipment was not yet mandatory.
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The authors of the text paint a vitriolic portrait of the former Minister of Labor (from May 2017 to July 2020), accusing her of having committed "
more than 670 breaches of labor regulations
" when she was at the head of Business France, and to have been as Minister "
the chief architect of a policy of precariousness and destruction of workers' rights
".
Signed by Mélenchon, Rousseau and Poutou
Coming back to the dismissal of Anthony Smith, they stress that the latter has been "
reinstated
" and that Muriel Pénicaud "
is today the subject of a complaint filed by several unions of labor inspectors before the International Office. work for hindering their independence
”.
They thus see in the candidacy of Muriel Pénicaud at the head of the ILO "
both a provocation for millions of employees but also a very clear sign of the will of the French government to continue the breach of rights and the flexibility of the market. work on a global scale
”.
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The text is signed in particular by the LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the spokesperson for the NPA Philippe Poutou, the EELV primary candidate Sandrine Rousseau, the general co-delegates of the Solidaires union Simon Duteil and Murielle Guilbert, the Confederal Secretary of the CGT Céline Verzeletti.
Muriel Pénicaud declared herself a candidate for the leadership of the ILO on September 30, to take over from Briton Guy Rider in October 2022. Three other candidates were proposed by Australia, Togo and South Africa.
The election of the next ILO boss by the organization's governing body will take place in March.