Some 200 employees of the LCL bank, a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole SA, gathered in Paris on Tuesday, while several branches were closed in France due to a strike for wage increases and better working conditions.
In total, 7% of LCL agencies are closed in France, out of a total of more than 1,700, management told AFP, who “
regrets this strike action
”.
The reception of businesses and professionals as well as private banking are not affected.
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In some regions, according to the unions, the strike rate reaches between 30% and 50% of the staff.
"
A lot of agencies are closed
," says Danièle Gourdet, national FO union representative.
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The unions FO and CFDT, respectively 2nd and 3rd unions of the bank, had called on Friday the employees to strike, denouncing in a press release an "
extreme greed
".
The two organizations were offended by management's refusal to grant a general increase for 2023 after the 2.9% average obtained in July, a level well below inflation.
Degraded “working conditions” and “commercial pressure”
To this increase paid “
from July 2022
” as an advance for 2023, are added “
individual measures
” of around 3.5%, LCL reacted, arguing an “
average individual increase of 6.4 %
”.
In addition, future bonuses “
should be higher in 2023 than those paid in 2022
” when they represented “
more than two months of wages per employee
”.
Among the demonstrators gathered in front of the historic headquarters of LCL, Charline Joliveau, CGT union representative, denounced increases "
swallowed
up" by inflation.
The Otherwise Solidarity union, 4th formation, had for its part called for a strike at the start of the school year, and also denounces, through the voice of its secretary Thierry Cornu, "
the working conditions
" degraded by positions left vacant and the "
commercial pressure
".
Vacancies while "
the commercial objectives are not revised downwards
" however, added Danièle Gourdet to AFP.
“
Resignations are increasing
” and the bank “
is having a lot of trouble recruiting
”, also denounced the inter-union FO and CFDT in their call for a strike.
The SNB, the first union at LCL which is not a member of the intersyndicale, invited employees "
to express (their) dissatisfaction by participating in the social movement
" and several employees with union bibs were present in Paris on Tuesday, noted an AFP journalist.
Over the first nine months of 2022, LCL recorded a net profit of 676 million euros, up 17.7% year on year.