“At night, sometimes, I don't sleep.
I think about the baby.
He must eat, have clothes, a place to sleep.
If her daddy can't give her all of this, it's not good.
“In the tiny studio he occupies with wife and child in Villemomble (Seine-Saint-Denis), Adama Cissé suddenly seems to arch himself a little.
Well seated on his knees, little Bakary, 15 months old and boiling radiant, gives off a huge smile, oblivious to his father's torments.
Who remembers Adama Cissé?
Today, the 38-year-old is one of the unemployed.
And even many others, in Ile-de-France, where the number of job seekers jumped by more than 15% in 2020 (100,000 more registered last December).
But this Franco-Malian father of a family is not unknown to the general public.
If that serious face, set with a closely cut goat, doesn't ring a bell, you may have remembered another photo.
That of a cleaner, in a green outfit and yellow chasuble, lying on the edge of a Parisian window, dozing.
The snapshot, taken in September 2018 by a passerby on the fly, and posted on Twitter, won the door to Adama Cissé.
Paris, September 2018. Photographed while taking a nap, Adama Cissé was fired. / Twitter
In January 2020, the Parisian revealed the story of the garbage collector, who attacked his former employer, Derichebourg Polysotis, in labor court.
The shy and reserved man was, he readily admits, overwhelmed by the media surge: “I was called from Mali to tell me that I had been seen on TV!
Public opinion was indignant at his fate, the reactions were sometimes excessive.
But we also extended a hand to him: on January 30, 2020, supported by a municipal councilor of Bondy, Nabil Larbi, and by the mayor (PS) of the city herself, he had signed a CDD with an employer who remained anonymous, who promised to hire him on a permanent contract quickly.
His fixed-term contract ends at the start of the first confinement
“We were promised a job, better housing… Everyone had heard that.
Today, I am told:
So Madam, have you moved?
And I answer:
No!
», Sighs his wife, Mariam, who feeds Bakary with large spoonfuls of porridge.
Because the health crisis has swept away promises and hopes.
Twitter survivor, Adama Cissé plunged back into the Covid crisis.
"He combines all the misfortunes," says his lawyer, Joachim Scavello.
Villemomble (93), this Friday.
Sure of his rights, Adama Cissé asks for 30,000 euros in damages from his former employer./LP/Olivier Arandel
The CDD ended in the first days of confinement.
“I received my balance from any account.
I was told that we had to wait for the end of the coronavirus, ”Adama Cissé told us in June.
The park from which he emptied the garbage has reopened.
But the employer did not follow up - the Samsic group did not respond to our requests on this subject.
The support of the socialist town hall of Bondy still left some hope… Alas, last June, the city swung to the right.
Even if the links remain close with Nabil Larbi, the horizon is darkening.
"Anyway ... It's dead, what", summarizes Adama Cissé, a worried crease in the forehead.
Since the end of his contract, he still receives unemployment, namely 1,100 euros, part of which is also sent to Mali, for two big boys born from a previous union.
“But Pôle emploi does not offer me anything.
The young couple are holding firm in a room, on the ground floor of a building bar that risks being demolished as part of the renovation of the neighborhood.
The lease is in a friend's name, but it is Adama who pays the rent of 420 euros every month.
"Suddenly, I'm not sure to be relocated," he slips.
At the back, there is a large, impeccable bed, which Bakary tries to climb;
children's clothes are folded on the dresser, and on the wall, a garland of golden balloons draws the word "Love".
“We need more space.
To play, the child goes to the bathroom, ”slips his dad.
An elected official from Bondy continues to help him in his efforts
Resigned, Adama Cissé?
Not quite.
The depression that we read in his eyes last year seems to have given way to a new determination.
“Adama will bounce back, I'm sure.
He has always shown unwavering will, he is solid, "slips Nabil Larbi, the former elected member of Bond, who continues to support him in his efforts.
Will this be enough in the current social context?
Newsletter The essential of 93
A tour of current events in Seine-Saint-Denis and the IDF
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When asked to tell about his arrival in France, Adama Cissé describes himself, a young man of 17, who left Mali because "it was misery, you earned nothing".
He tells the story of resourcefulness, a first stable job in sorting waste, and this hiring, in 2011, as a cleaning agent.
“He was serious, punctual.
It can happen to anyone to do something stupid ... But here, the company wanted to make an example, ”said one of his former colleagues.
To justify the dismissal, the company Derichebourg had notably argued that the employee had exceeded his break time - which he disputes - and violated the internal regulations and the "commitments of his employment contract".
The industrial tribunal must decide in 2021. “It's long, annoys M e Scavello.
It would be unfair if the only thing left of this case was the image of a man lying on the sidewalk, like a slacker… ”Adama Cissé is claiming 30,000 euros in damages.
“What hurts my heart is being today without work, without a job.
His days boil down to a few walks with Bakary, and too few steps to find a job.
A foot appeal sent to the mayor of Paris
Living off your toil is what matters.
His lawyer remembers the multiple jackpots launched on the Web last year in his name: "We did not always know who was behind, where the money came from ..." Cautious, Adama Cissé only accepted a donation , about a thousand euros, the result of a collection made by an unknown woman.
He also had to face the surge in the media: "He, so discreet, was first touched by the attention paid to him, then he was fed up", still describes Me Scavello.
But Adama Cissé does not forget the statements of each other.
He wants to send a letter to Anne Hidalgo, the PS mayor of Paris.
His former cleaning assistant, Paul Simondon, questioned on BFM TV in early 2020, replied that Adama Cissé could take the competition to become a city agent.
"But no, I can not, underlines the person concerned with simplicity.
I can read, but not write.
Anne Hidalgo can still give me the broom: I did this work for eight years!
She can recruit me!
"
If, in 2018, it did not directly employ the cleaning agent, the community had reported the disputed photo posted on Twitter to its service provider, inquiring about the follow-up.
"In the letter, I just want to say that I really want to work", slips Adama Cissé again.
On the side of the town hall of Paris, we assure that we will read the letter carefully.