A standoff is underway in Marseille over the issue of managing the city’s cleanliness. Some 600 tonnes of waste are accumulating in the streets of two districts following a strike by garbage collectors from a Veolia subsidiary since Friday, said the Metropolis which is responsible for garbage collection.
In the 3rd arrondissement, located near Saint-Charles station and where 53,000 people live, containers are overflowing and trash bags are piling up on the road. The strike of the Bronzo company garbage collectors also affects the neighboring 14th arrondissement where 60,000 people live.
The Metropolis tries to ensure a minimum service
“The Metropolis is carefully following the ongoing social conflict.” It claims to have “set up 10 construction dumpsters in the districts concerned to ensure a minimum service during the strike”, specified this community led by Martine Vassal.
The 160 Bronzo agents responsible for waste collection and sidewalk cleanliness denounce the lack of resources to carry out their mission while “the Metropolis in its new call for tenders won by Bronzo in April has reduced the financial means and therefore consequently the frequency of services every other day,” declared Denis Ferrandino, departmental secretary of the CFDT for this sector of activity. “The workload is heavier, there are a lot of pressures and not enough resources,” he added. “We wonder if the Metropolis has the desire to put the resources into these poor districts.”
Regular strikes linked to waste collection
“Since yesterday (Tuesday), concrete proposals have been made as part of the ongoing negotiations”, for its part indicated Veolia Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, without giving further details on the latter. “We are aware of the inconvenience that this situation can cause to residents,” the company said, adding that it is “doing everything possible to quickly resolve this conflict.” The union delegate clarified that some of the proposals, which he considers “vague”, will be presented to employees this Thursday.
Marseille, the second largest city in France, regularly experiences strikes linked to waste collection. At the beginning of 2022, Mayor Benoît Payan, although this is not his competence, had to have private dump trucks “emergency intervention” to try to collect the piles of rubbish threatening to end up in the sea with the strong mistral after a 15-day strike by garbage collectors.