“ A few days ago, while drinking my coffee, I realize that I have lost my taste. Then it was the smell, and I started to have a fever. Within twenty-four hours, I was HS ”. Damien * 's doctor will put the words on his symptoms: he probably has covid-19. He obtains a fifteen-day sick leave.
Read also: Coronavirus: an employee of an Amazon warehouse in France placed in intensive care
Damien is employed in one of the six warehouses of Amazon France, in Montélimar. Sick, he goes up the thread of all the people with whom he may have been in close contact. " Between the members of my team and my knowledge in the company, that represents approximately one hundred and fifty people, " he reflects. Not to mention those who could have touched a product, a package with which he was in contact.
In Amazon's warehouses, which containment has not stopped, any suspicious case creates a wave of fear. On Wednesday, the company confirmed that one of its employees at the Brétigny-sur-Orge site had been placed in intensive care following the coronavirus. Three other employees are said to have coronavirus in this warehouse.
Amazon believes it is doing enough to keep its employees safe. There are certainly no masks or gloves, but disinfectant wipes and hydroalcoholic gel are available. " We are going further than government measures by setting up a social distance of two meters " , argues a spokesperson for Amazon France . " We also staggered the breaks, to allow for fewer people on the sites ." Finally, Amazon promises to identify all the people who had close contact with an employee who was arrested because of the coronavirus, and to grant them fourteen days of paid leave.
" We cannot say that Amazon did nothing, that would be false, " recognizes Laurent Degousée, co-delegate SUD-Commerce. Without considering that this is sufficient. The “ pickers ” - who take the products from the shelves - are formal: the aisles are far too narrow, promiscuity inevitable. In some warehouses, employees' head temperatures are taken before they go to work, but " the front thermometer wanders from one person to another without being disinfected, " says a union official. Images of this control, which Le Figaro was able to view, demonstrate that the rules of hygiene and social distancing measures are unequally respected in this workspace where there are many movements.
In an e-mail sent to the union organizations of the Montélimar warehouse and that Le Figaro has obtained, an occupational doctor is clear: " it would be more prudent to stop the activity of the company ".
E-mail sent by an occupational doctor. Screenshot.
In the Montélimar warehouse, “ a hundred ” temporary workers were recruited at the start of confinement to compensate for the absence of employees on permanent contracts. Fear gripped many employees, who preferred to stop pointing at the time of the crisis. Work stoppages, right of withdrawal: absenteeism is approaching 40% in this warehouse, says Guillaume Reynaud, elected CGT. A right of withdrawal whose Amazon disputes the validity, according to several employees interviewed by Le Figaro .
The SUD union must therefore file " eleven industrial tribunal cases " , indicates Laurent Degousée . " We will tell Amazon that the right of withdrawal is justified ." The union will decide this Friday if it seizes the judicial court of Nanterre, since the seat of Amazon is in Clichy, in summary procedure: " we ask the closure of the six production sites ", affirms still the trade unionist. On the CGT conversation loops, we are agitated: some whisper that an interim employee of the Brétigny-sur-Orge site has died from the coronavirus and that the company would refuse to give his identity. A fable, according to Amazon. But the rumor speaks volumes about the growing tension among some of the employees.
Loss of meaning
Some people wonder, above all, what they still do at work. Amazon says it is refocusing its deliveries around " essential products ", that is to say its food range, cleaning products and hygiene products. But the feeling of those who prepare orders is quite different: " most of the time, the employees pack toys, dolls, condoms ", notes Ollivier Champetier, union official. Customers do not seem to limit their orders to the bare minimum: grocery department, it is currently the paper towel rolls and Easter chocolate bunnies that sell best. The purchase of “ non-essential ” products is also possible, with only extended delivery times. Again, the most common purchases are not necessarily the most useful: they are remote controls, novels, card games or video games that sell best.
Read also: The CGT will file a complaint against Amazon for endangering others
In Montélimar, nailed to his home by the coronavirus, Damien is bitter. " I did not expect myself to get sick," continues the man between two powerful coughing fits. And I'm all the more upset knowing that it was to send massage oils or video games . ”
