A new trade union organization has just been created in Monaco. The SEOCM, an affiliate of the F2SM, will be involved in the upcoming annual mandatory negotiations.
They favor a moderate approach to union bargaining. Moreover, the organization prefers the term “proposition” to the more conflictual one of “claim.” Because they “did not recognize themselves in the language used by unions.” And because they wanted to make an “apolitical, non-dogmatic” voice heard, based on “discussion and construction, more than through conflict,” Vera Mendes, 31, and Jean-Marc Eit, 52, just created the Union of Employees and Trade Workers of Monaco (Syndicat des employés et ouvriers du commerce de Monaco or SEOCM). A hostess and a versatile salesman in a Monegasque hypermarket, they are respectively the general secretary and the treasurer of this new union. They have clear intentions to make a place for themselves in the Principality’s social landscape.
Not opposed to working on Sunday
Affiliated with the F2SM, the SEOCM, which refuses for the moment to communicate on its number of members, will have access to the next annual obligatory negotiations. It is an opportunity to flex its negotiation skills. They hope to obtain for the employees of the hypermarket, a salary increase, a grid of annual bonuses with a base bonus, the establishment of a commission for reflection on the accompaniment into retirement and estimation of pensions, and an extra bonus of 50 euros for those who work more than five Sundays in the year.
“Because at the SEOCM, we are not opposed to working on Sunday! Many of us in the company are not opposed. We are paid double with a payback, or paid triple without the payback. It represents a lot of money. This is an interesting possibility as long as it remains punctual, and on a volunteer basis,” Vera Mendes explained to our colleagues from Monaco Matin.
Attracted by this way of approaching the social question, many employees have apparently expressed their interest in this new union organization. And its rule of conduct summed up in one word: moderation.
*Article originally published on the French edition of the Monaco Tribune.