Yves Rocher, present in 88 countries, with an annual turnover of €2bn, is the world’s leader in plant-derived cosmetology. ‘A Group and brands united by the same passion: making women’s daily lives more pleasant’ is one of its slogans. But the 133 ex-employees at La Gacilienne, an Yves Rocher subsidiary in Burkino Faso, have difficulty agreeing. After nine years of work in difficult conditions they were unexpectedly laid off on 1 August 2005. Since then they have been struggling to obtain compensation. In France a collective of organizations has been relaying this mobilization for the past three months via press conferences, petitions, open letters and protest actions. A letter campaign has now been launched to urge the Yves Rocher group to finally face its responsibilities.

La Gacilly in Brittany is the emblematic site of the Yves Rocher Group - to the extent that the municipality, its mayor and the company he founded seem to be one and the same entity. Yves Rocher, CEO and founder of the company, established his head office in the town of which he has been mayor since 1962.

In 1996 the town’s leading official and entrepreneur launched a development project in Burkina Faso. He claims that his aim was ‘to promote economic development in one of the poorest countries in the world by promoting local economic initiatives’. La Gacilienne, a subsidiary of which 97% is owned by the Yves Rocher Group, was set up near Ouagadougou, the Burkina Faso capital. This firm recruited 133 workers to produce plastic bags and tombola rolls[je ne vois pas ce que c’est] that Yves Rocher distributes to its customers.

Behind the mirror

But the conditions in which the La Gacilienne employees worked belied the Group’s advertising slogans. In an ill-lit and badly ventilated warehouse, the women were seated closely together on benches. ‘Chatting’ was forbidden and punished by a fine of a half-day’s wages. A worker who was a few minutes late could be suspended for a period of seven to ten days. These conditions were worsened by the absence of maternity leave, the refusal to take breast-feeding time into account in the calculation of wages, the absence of medical visits, and long working-hours at an unbearable pace. Periods of intense production alternated with long periods of temporary unemployment without pay. The women’s average monthly wage was therefore €15 - a third of the compulsory minimum wage in Burkina Faso.

In June 2004 the women’s umbrella organization ’Egalité’ organized a trip of 11 women to Burkina Faso. Via the organization Kebayina [1] and the trade union CGT-B [2], present in the firm since 2001, this delegation met the La Gacilienne workers who described their working conditions and asked for support in petitioning Yves Rocher.

In September 2004, in a letter to the CEO of the Group, the chairperson of Egalité urged Yves Rocher to inform himself of the situation ’and to intervene rapidly to put an end to over-exploitation and repression of the workers at La Gacilienne’. In late October an Yves Rocher representative met the organization’s leaders. The discussion was open and positive, and the company representative undertook to consider the workers’ demands. But instead of doing so, the Group ordered an ’inspection’ of La Gacilienne in December by a private company. This company’s report claimed that criticism of La Gacilienne was nothing but ’defamation’ that could lead to ’prosecution’ if it were to continue! The general secretary of CGT-B pointed out to Yves Rocher that the inspectors had based their assessment on only one source of information, ’the La Gacilienne management’, and categorically refused information from the trade union. The union offered to provide it with ample information, including documents on the issue [3] but received no answer.

No wages, no means of subsistence

After that things moved faster. On 16 April 2005 the Group’s lawyer in Burkina Faso announced that Yves Rocher had decided to leave the country and proposed that the workers buy out the company. They refused on the grounds that the project was clearly not viable. On 1 August La Gacilienne simply closed down and, with no notice nor explanations, 133 workers found themselves deprived of an income and means of subsistence.

Since then the former employees have been struggling. On 13 October they organized a demonstration in the streets of Ouagadougou to demand a decent redundancy package as well as damages of €2,830 per worker for non-compliance with the Labour code and compensation for harm suffered over a period of nine years.

In France mobilization is also growing. Five thousand signatures have been obtained for the petition to support the workers and several media have relayed the information.

But the Yves Rocher group refuses to open real negotiations. It prefers to maintain its offers well below the workers’ demands: a €76 end-of-contract payment and €283 damages in exchange for a letter undertaking not to lay charges - a deal that leaves one stunned considering the Group’s profits! The Group is probably hoping that the movement in France and Burkina Faso will die out or that some women, pressed by need, will be forced to accept an unfair agreement. The cosmetics giant would do itself far more justice by listening to the new appeal launched on 26 November by one of the sacked employees: ’Tell Yves Rocher to hurry up, we’re women but we’re also mothers, we’ve got children to feed, we weren’t able to pay their school fees ... the situation is really very difficult’ [4].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

They are supporting the campaign!!

Women’s organizations: Coordination des Groupes de Femmes "Egalité", Commission Genre, Femmes et Mondialisation ATTAC, Collectif Féministes "Ruptures", SOS Sexisme, Association Femmes Solidarité (Strasbourg), Centre d’orientation, de documentation et d’information des femmes (Marseille), Espace Simone de Beauvoir (Nantes), Femmes Solidaires (Nantes et St Nazaire), MNFP (67 et 43), Rien sans Elles (Brest) , Mix-cité (Rennes), CNDF, Marche Mondiale des Femmes.

Other non-profit organizations: Afrique XXI, AFASPA, ATTAC France, COFANZO, Droit au Logement, MBDHP France, Peuples Solidaires, SURVIE, Réseau international CADTM, Centre d’Information Inter Peuples (Grenoble), Les Motivé(e)s (Toulouse), Association des Tunisiens en France, Euromed, Union des Familles Laïques.

Trade Unions: UL CGT Massy (91), UL CGT Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (91), Syndicat CGT Yves Rocher S.A. La Gacilly (56), Fédération Nationale des Industries de la Chimie CGT, UD CGT 91, Union Syndicale SOLIDAIRES, CNT (international), Fédération Sud PTT, Syndicat SUD-ANPE Rhône-Alpes, SNAD CGT Pays de la Loire, CNT Interco Nantes, UL CGT Villefranche (69), Solidaires (91), CGT PTT (91), CGT Tyco Electronics France, UL CGT du Grésivaudan, Sud PTT (56), Solidaires (56), Sud Trésor (56), Collectif Egalité-Mixité UD CGT 44.

Contact for the Gacilienne Solidarity Campaign: c/o Egalité, Foyer de Grenelle 17 rue de l’Avre - 75015 Paris coorfemmes@yahoo.com DVD: A 20-minute report (in French) on Les Gaciliennes (directed by K. Steinhart, produced by the UL-CGT de Massy) can be ordered from the above address (€11.22, cheque payable to UL-CGT Massy).

WHAT TO DO

By letter: cut and paste the standard letter below or use your own wording. Remember to add your own name, address and signature. Send your letter to the address indicated below. Deadline: as soon as you receive this call and not later than 31 January 2006. You can also email the Fondation Yves Rocher at: contact@yves-rocher-fondation.org

LETTER TO YVES ROCHER :

Date :

M. Yves ROCHER
Président Directeur Général
Groupe “Yves ROCHER”
ZI La Croix des Archers
56200 LA GACILLY

Monsieur,

J’ai été informé(e) par La Coordination des Groupes de Femmes “Egalité” et par le Réseau-Solidarité de Peuples Solidaires (10, quai de Richemont - 35 000 Rennes), soutenus par plus de cinquante organisations, de la situation des ex-ouvrières de La Gacilienne, ancienne filiale d’Yves ROCHER au Burkina Faso.

Pendant 9 ans, ces ouvrières ont travaillé dans une usine qui, comme vous en a informé la CGT-B, ne respectait pas la législation du travail en vigueur dans le pays et imposait un mode de travail basé sur le chantage à l’emploi, les menaces, les intimidations et les sanctions arbitraires.

Le 1er août 2005, La Gacilienne a purement et simplement fermé ses portes, laissant 133 ouvrières au chômage et sans revenu. Depuis, ces femmes se mobilisent pour obtenir une indemnisation décente ainsi que des dommages et intérêts pour le préjudice subi.

Préoccupé(e) par le respect des droits humains par votre entreprise, je m’associe à la campagne de solidarité et de soutien aux ouvrières burkinabè et vous demande de rouvrir des négociations avec elles et leur syndicat afin de régulariser cette situation dans les meilleurs délais.

Restant attentif(ve) aux suites que vous donnerez à ma lettre, je vous prie d’agréer,

Monsieur, l’expression de ma considération distinguée.

TRANSLATION

Mr Yves Rocher
CEO: Yves Rocher Group
ZI La Croix des Archers
56200 La Gacilly
France

[date]

Dear Sir,

I have been informed by the Coordination des Groupes de Femmes ’Egalité’ and by Réseau-Solidarity of Peuples Solidaires (10, quai de Richemont, 35000 Rennes), supported by over fifty organizations, of the situation of former employees of La Gacilienne, a subsidiary of Yves Rocher formerly in Burkina Faso.

For nine years these employees worked in a factory which, as the CGT-B informed you, failed to comply with current labour legislation in the country and practised labour management methods based on threats, intimidation and arbitrary sanctions.

On 1 August 2005 La Gacilienne simply closed down, leaving 133 workers unemployed and deprived of an income. Since then these women have been struggling to obtain decent redundancy pay and compensation for damages.

Concerned about the respect for human rights in your firm, I support the solidarity campaign for these Burkina Faso workers. I urge you to open negotiations with them and their union in order to regularize this situation as soon as possible.

I look forward to receiving information on your follow-up to this letter.

Yours sincerely,

[signature] [name]

[1] During a visit to Burkina Faso in November 2004 ’to meet human rights organizations’, members of Réseau-Solidarité also met this organization of Burkina women.

[2] The Confédération Générale du Travail du Burkina is the country’s largest trade union. Peuples Solidaires works with it (cf. Call n°259 - ’Encore un mauvais PAS’, 2003)

[3] Like the partial agreement signed by the firm and the union in 2002 at the Regional Employment, Labour and Social Security Department, the terms of which were not adhered to by the company.

[4] Lucienne Kabore, Deputy general secretary of the CGT-B at La Gacilienne, testified by telephone on 26 November during a public meeting organized in Rennes to support the La Gacilienne workers.