Hautes-Alpes: seasonal ski resort workers call a strike Saturday, February 15

They assist skiers to seize their buttocks, get off the tele-seat, they supply upkeep for the ski lifts, the protection of the slopes … There are a lot of workers on the ski resorts.
Within the overwhelming majority, they’re seasonal staff.

Saturday, February 15, they are going to be on strike for some, when vacationers arrive in giant numbers on the resort. Within the Hautes-Alpes, a number of resorts are concerned: Queyras, Puy-Saint-Vincent, Orcières, les Orres, Vars-Risoul, Serre Chevalier, Montgenèvre, la Grave, Val d´Allos …

The unions name the truth is seasonal staff to disengage for just a few hours, or half a day.

Unemployment insurance coverage reform strike

One station job in winter, one other within the valley typically in summer season. Between the 2 durations, staff are compensated by unemployment insurance coverage. However from April 1, the compensation guidelines change: it now takes no less than six months of paid work to recharge unemployment rights, towards 4 beforehand. The calculation of the quantity of compensation can be modified: it’s not the one days labored which are taken under consideration, however the month-to-month revenue.

A reform, which might, in accordance with the union Drive Ouvrière, a lack of 20 to 50% of the compensation of seasonal staff. In French ski resorts, this issues, in accordance with the union, greater than 17,000 contracts, with a mean length of three and a half months.

In Vars, within the Hautes-Alpes, Rob Van Druenen is a pole vaulter from December to April. In summer season, he’s an impartial river information. With the reform, he’ll not be compensated between the 2 durations: "seasonal life is already fairly troublesome, the seasons are getting shorter and shorter. And if we’re extra compensated within the low season, I don't understand how we’re going to do it. ", he laments.

"The triple penalty with pension reform"

In Vars, of the station's 180 workers, solely 30 are everlasting. For Jean-Jacques Lecun, workers consultant within the station, the pension reform which is added to that of unemployment, would inflict a "triple penalty" on seasonal staff: "in the course of the durations after we are extra compensated, we’ll not have the ability to purchase quarterly for pensions, that implies that you’ll have to work even longer to have a full pension, "he mentioned.

In keeping with figures from the Ministry of Labor, between April 2018 and March 2019, there have been practically a million seasonal contracts in France, with a mean length of two months. This primarily issues the catering, lodging and leisure trades. With the brand new reforms, these jobs may lose their attractiveness.