Patricia Pasquion was shot dead in January 2021 in Valence by Gabriel Fortin, nicknamed “the HRD killer”. For the unions, nothing has been done for the safety of the officers since the murder.
Two years after the murder of an agent at the Pôle emploi in Valence, the FO and SNU unions launched at the beginning of February a “right to alert serious and imminent danger”. They denounce a chronic insecurity in the agencies.
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Patricia Pasquion was killed in her office in January 2021 by Gabriel Fortin, nicknamed “the HRD killer”, author of two other murders and an attempted murder. This right to alert today follows numerous commissions that have been held over the past two years. The unions believe that nothing has been done for the safety of officers since the murder.
Unions denounce 55 attacks a day
Sébastien is a Pôle emploi agent in the south of France. Attacks are recurrent. He was threatened a few months before the murder of Patricia Pasquion, who was shot in her office at Pôle emploi Valence. “He was a job seeker who was still very upset, who said that we were incapablesays Sebastian. He absolutely wanted to have his payment, but except that we were missing a document. He said, ‘If I come to the agency and cut your throat, I can get my payment.'”
“We are less calm when we are at work. The few days that followed, I was always a little on the alert.”
Sébastien, employment center agentat franceinfo
Sébastien alerted his management but no protective measures were taken, according to him. He filed a complaint. On average, there are 55 attacks per day in the agencies, according to the unions.
Insufficient security?
The “right to alert serious and imminent danger” will allow an internal investigation. A labor inspector will have to determine whether the security is sufficient. It is not, says Natalia Jourdin, national Force Ouvrière delegate at Pôle Emploi: “Our employer has not measured the danger that weighs on the employees of Pôle emploi on a daily basis.
“The agents are not protected. An aggressive person has no physical barrier. The agent is very easily accessible.”
Natalia Jourdin, national FO delegate at Pôle emploiat franceinfo
Which had been the case for Patricia Pasquion in Valence. Her sisters filed a complaint in September 2022 against Pôle emploi for manslaughter. “If there are improvements to be made in terms of security, this murder must at least have been used for that, explains their lawyer, Hervé Gerbi. That Patricia Pasquion did not die without drawing the consequences, at the level of Pôle emploi, of the obligations in terms of security. The Valencian prosecutor’s office declined to comment.
For its part, the management of Pôle emploi affirms that measures have been taken with in particular training in verbal de-escalation, and the installation of safety equipment. “We are not limited to video surveillanceexplains Charline Nicolas, Deputy Director General of Pôle Emploi. We obviously have alarm devices. We work on flows and circulations. So it’s a global assessment that allows us to secure agents all over the country.” On the other hand, there is no question of employing security guards.
Pôle emploi will be alongside the Pasquion family on the bench of the civil parties during the trial of Gabriel Fortin at the Assizes of the Drôme in June.
