“If a young person like him is taken away from me, it is as if a leg was taken from me. We artisans have trouble finding apprentices! ”
, chokes Alexandre Figard, master baker from Besançon.
"Him"
is Lamine Diaby, apprentice employed since October 2019 in his bakery. After almost two years of apprenticeship, Lamine has just obtained his CAP and the employment offer from his boss. He must sign this Monday, July 12 a new one-year contract. But this success was quickly tarnished by the receipt of a registered letter from the prefecture of Doubs, which arrived on Wednesday, reports
L'Est Républicain
: an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF).
"We received like a baton"
, testifies, still stunned, the master baker.
Would these two years spent training his apprentice therefore be in vain?
For him, Lamine had integrated perfectly.
“A teacher notes that it is a driving force in the classroom!
At work, things are going very well, he gets along well with everyone in the team, ”he
says.
The new contract that Lamine must sign on Monday should allow him to obtain a "complementary mention" in specialized bakery.
The young apprentice then dreams of obtaining his professional certificate.
“My goal is to train him and keep him in the company.
And one day, that he replaces me ”
, breathes Alexandre Figard, who confides to be ill.
Another Besançon baker's hunger strike
No question for him, therefore, to start a hunger strike, like his colleague from Besançon. The story of Alexandre and his apprentice indeed resembles in a puzzling way that of the bisontin baker Stéphane Ravaclay, who had started a hunger strike in early January 2021 to keep his Guinean apprentice, Laye Fodé Traoré, also threatened with expulsion. Once of age, the young man no longer benefited from the law which prohibits the expulsion of an isolated minor without papers. After 12 days without eating, the mobilization had taken on a national scale. An online petition shared by MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, followed by a platform by the mayor of Besançon co-signed by Omar Sy, Leïla Slimani, Nicolas Hulot or even Marion Cotillard, had ended up paying: theapprentice had been able to obtain a residence permit to continue his studies. Ironically, he also obtained his CAP on Friday July 9. The Minister of Labor Élisabeth Borne then spoke of a "special case" ... Lamine's new case seems to prove him wrong.
Read also: To protest against the expulsion of his apprentice, a baker goes on hunger strike
Alerted by this precedent, Alexandre Figard had seen fit to anticipate by writing, in January 2021, to the prefecture of Doubs to request a regularization of his young apprentice.
At the other end of the
Figaro line
, the master baker reads this letter out loud:
"(...) As soon as he joined our company, he was able to demonstrate a great deal of competence ...."
A silence.
Her voice breaks.
He resumed, with difficulty containing his emotion:
"Both serious and sociable (...) his level of adaptation is impressive as much for his understanding of the French language as his ability to quickly perform the tasks requested"
The prefecture does not never acted on.
Suspicion of falsification of identity documents
The cases of Lamine and Laye are in fact emblematic of the situation of many young adult apprentices formerly placed in social assistance for children (ASE), who suddenly come under another legal regime, that of the Entry Code. and residence of foreigners and the right of asylum (CESEDA), which is more restrictive. Studies or not, diploma or not, the slightest administrative irregularity will not forgive. And for Guinea, again, the same scenario is repeated.
As for Laye, the prefecture thus suspects fraud in Lamine's identity documents. The border police thus reported irregularities in their civil status documents. Lamine, he assures that the Embassy of Guinea has validated his birth certificate, providing him with a consular card. But the Guinean embassy, requested by the French administration on the authenticity of the documents, turned a deaf ear. A classic scenario with this West African country, explain our colleagues from
L'Est Républicain
: births are not always declared there, which is interpreted unfavorably for young migrants, while the French administration suspects systematically
“documentary fraud”
in the country.
Asked by
Le Figaro
, the prefecture of Doubs confirms that there are many cases of young Guineans obtaining training but who
"for legal reasons"
, are threatened with expulsion at their 18 years, citing this time the case of 'Abakar Gassama, a young Guinean apprentice cook in Montbéliard, expelled to his country last April, CAP in his pocket, on the grounds of
"falsification of identity documents to the French administration"
.
An association and a bill
Master baker Alexandre Figard, however, said he was determined to fight to keep his apprentice. He can already count on the support of his colleague Stéphane Ravaclay. In January, the baker had the idea of launching his Patrons solidaires association. The goal? Come to the aid of artisans and owners of craft trades whose apprentices are targeted by expulsion measures. The baker will soon go to Nantes, to meet there
"about twenty owners - restaurateurs, tilers, electricians - whose apprentices have received OQTF"
.
He also assures us that his profession is facing a labor shortage:
“The national bakers' union has finally released figures after my hunger strike: there are 9,000 unfilled employee places in the bakery. "
“They say that the CFA (apprenticeship training centers, Editor's note) are full.
Certainly, but 70 to 80% of students leave the apprenticeship course.
With 20% of apprentices who want to continue, we cannot cover France, ”he
adds.
Read also: Bakeries are recruiting: 9,000 jobs are to be filled in France
Stéphane Ravaclay also worked with the Socialist deputy for Saône-et-Loire Jérôme Durain on a bill to facilitate the regularization of residence permits for young foreign apprentices, when the bosses wish to keep them and continue their studies
" with seriousness and regularity ”
. The bill should be on the agenda by the start of the school year.