It’s still a subcontractor story and once again, the principal claims not to be aware and washes his hands of it. The expression seems particularly appropriate when it comes to Veolia, the water and waste giant, which has employed undocumented migrants for years through the subcontractor NTI, under conditions “unworthy and unacceptable fact of their situation ”assures the CGT, which requests the hiring in CDI and the regularization of a dozen employees.
“Illegal work, non-compliance with the duty of care obligations of principals, non-compliance with working conditions, non-compliance with safety standards, unworthy work”, are among the criticisms set out by Ali Chaligui, CGT delegate for the National Federation of Transport-Waste Activities Unions.
“Exponential evolution” during the Covid
Today these 11 employees of NTI, which was liquidated a few months ago, “occupied” since Monday a sorting center operated by Veolia in the 15th arrondissement of Paris and ask to be received by the management of this group, their main provider of missions, according to the CGT. According to Ali Chaligui, the fifty employees who were employed by the subcontractor company, have suffered this type of drift since 2018, “with an exponential evolution, in particular during the Covid period, to replace employees in partial activity or for health reasons”.
Asked by Le World, a 30-year-old says she received “no compensation” during her maternity leave: “The boss told me to stay at home for ten days, without being paid. “The accidents at work were neither declared nor compensated,” writes the daily. More broadly, “a large number of migrant workers in sorting and household waste treatment centers in Ile-de-France communities are overexploited in unworthy and unacceptable conditions because of their situation” as undocumented migrants, ensures the CGT.
Veolia calls itself “vigilant”
Contacted by AFP, the water and waste giant assured that he “did not know” (…) “the possible employment of undocumented employees by NTI”, a company he requested between 2019 and 2022 “ on a few sites and on a non-continuous basis”. Assuring to apply “the strictest vigilance to the conditions of execution of all of its subcontracting contracts” and regularly request “certificates of vigilance from Urssaf and the list of foreign employees”, Veolia indicates that it has “taken the decision to stop working” with NTI after having “detected inconsistencies in the response elements provided” by this company.
NTI has, according to Ali Chaligui, been “recently liquidated” after inspections by the labor inspectorate, to “evade sanctions, evade controls, evade monitoring”, some of its leaders having since founded the company AR Environnement. Contacted by AFP, the latter could not be reached immediately.