Several dozen employees of the Decathlon sporting goods store chain mobilized this Saturday, January 14, in front of several stores in France to demand better wages, CFDT union representative Sébastien Chauvin told AFP.
“There is a towing operation to customers in front of the Herblay store”in the Paris region, “as well as a call for a walkout at the start of the afternoon”detailed Sébastien Chauvin.
The stores of Aubagne, Mérignac, Metz, Rennes or Lille are also concerned, according to him. The day of mobilization was not chosen at random, since it is the first Saturday of the winter sales, a day of great attendance. “It is rather well perceived by customers”assures the union representative.
3% gain in purchasing power
The CFDT calls for a fairer distribution of the company’s financial performance between shareholders and employees. It advances the figure of 400 million euros in dividends paid for the past year.
“We are asking for the systematic repercussion (of increases) of the minimum wage” as well as “3% gain in purchasing power” additional, underlines Sébastien Chauvin.
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A call for a strike was launched by the union on Thursday, following a mandatory annual negotiation phase held in December. The CFDT is not the majority within the sporting goods production and distribution group belonging to the Mulliez galaxy, such as Auchan, Boulanger or Leroy Merlin.
Salaries close to minimum wage
The group has “significantly increased the salaries of its employees” since January 2022, argued Decathlon in a statement received by AFP on Friday, “from 9% to 9.8% for college employees and supervisors”.
These figures reflect above all the low level of wages in the company, according to the union, which estimates that the increase granted by the group brings them closer to the automatic revaluations of the minimum wage last year, due to high inflation.
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The group, created in 1976 in Englos (Nord), claims on its website nearly 94,000 employees. Decathlon has already experienced a strike episode in October 2021, a first according to the unions at the time.
