PARIS (Reuters) – Several hundred workers at COVID-19 testing laboratories across France walked out on Thursday in protest against poor working conditions, one of the country’s biggest trade unions said, piling more strain on a system under severe stress.
The hard-left CGT union said the strike was disrupting testing in some towns and could drag on if laboratory owners failed to negotiate, just as the government demands more and faster testing to help fight a surge in new coronavirus cases.
“This risks carrying on into the weeks ahead,” said Eric Sellini, federal secretary of the union’s laboratory branch. “A COVID bonus isn’t the answer. It would do workers good given the level of salaries, but it’s not enough on its own.”
A representative of employers in the sector, Francois Blanchecotte, said the strike’s impact on testing was minimal.
Some lab workers have complained of “war-time” conditions, having to deal with overwhelming demand and aggressive patients.
The lab workers’ strike came on a day of nationwide street protests planned by the CGT in cities nationwide.
The union accuses President Emmanuel Macron of destroying France’s social security system, ruining public services and placing the interests of big business over those of workers even as the coronavirus wrecks the economy and forces job cuts.
The situation demanded “deep reform in a total break with the social and economic policies of the day,” the CGT and six unions from the education sector said in a joint statement.
The state-run SNCF railways said it expected weak participation in the strike and minimum disruption to services.
Macron’s reforms to liberalise the economy and bolster French competitiveness have prompted waves of sometimes-violent protest during his three years in office.
(Reporting by Caroline Pailliez; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
