H&M union activist attempts to self-immolate during negotiations with management – The HuffPost

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ANDREW BOYERS / Reuters

On the sidelines of negotiations on the closure of an H&M logistics platform in Seine-Saint-Denis, a trade unionist tried to end his life by setting himself on fire (illustrative photo taken in Milton Keynes, in England, in September).

SOCIAL CONFLICTS – A desperate gesture. A trade union representative from the logistics platform H&M GBC du Bourget, in Seine-Saint-Denis, whose fashion giant has announced the closure, attempted to set itself on fire this Tuesday, October 26 morning at the time of a negotiation meeting with management.

This 39-year-old employee, employed for 18 years on the site and UNSA delegate, sprayed himself with gasoline on the site’s parking lot in an attempt to set himself on fire, several employees told AFP.

In shock, employees mobilized on the picket line immediately came to help him, according to images seen by AFP. He left the hospital at the end of the afternoon, said a colleague.

“A direction that provokes”

The union delegate participated in a meeting with the management of the site as part of the job protection plan (PSE) opened after the announcement of the closure of the warehouse, the only logistics platform in France of the loan giant -to wear.

During the discussions, he left the room and went outside, where he wanted to kill his life, explained Fatima Karim, CGT delegate. “He is someone who has his head, who has always negotiated and here we are facing a leadership that provokes” by proposing only weak support measures, she said.

“We don’t care about money. The priority is reclassification [des salariés], we want to keep our jobs, ”the union representative told AFP on Monday. This father said he was tired by the strike launched on October 7 – which shut down the site – but anxious to continue the mobilization.

Despite sharply increasing profits exceeding pre-pandemic levels of covid-19, Hennes and Mauritz (H&M) has announced that it wants to reorient its activity to adapt it to internet sales. H&M France explained on Friday that the closure of the Le Bourget site, which has around 150 employees, was the result of a “new organization of logistics flows” in the region.

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