Moroccan Workers Accuse French Companies of Modern Slavery in Labor Court Case

The judgment of a slavery case before the labor court in Arles has just been postponed to May 16, when it was initially supposed to take place this Monday, after two other postponements to be noted. This time, the defense was not even reachable.

It is in fact 5 Moroccan workers who are suing a Spanish company that posted them to France. These Moroccans are also suing eight French companies. Subject of the complaint: "Slavery". This company would have "destroyed their lives".

Le Figaro writes on this subject that the five Moroccans were striving to "denounce the ’slavery’ of which they would have been victims". According to the same media: "Overtime, precariousness bonuses and unpaid leave, undeclared work accident, lack of weekly rest: Me Petit, the lawyer for these five people aged 36 to 48, requests for each the reclassification of their employment contract as an open-ended contract (CDI), the payment of 13,800 euros in back wages, 37,000 euros in damages and 6,500 euros in damages".

The media cites Franck Ariès, a CGT Avignon elected official who, in addition to having helped the Moroccan workers build a solid case, is also a civil party. According to Ariès: "they found themselves in a situation where they were at the mercy of their employer [...] In addition to that, they had infamous working conditions and a meager pay that allows them to survive in France, but not to live".

"Sexual harassment" and even "touching" are also mentioned in this case. And the labor court would only be a first step.