The general secretary of France’s largest trade union has warned that union freedoms are “in danger” after she was placed under formal investigation for defamation for the second time in six months.
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The latest is a case brought by French cookware manufacturer Tefal over comments she made about union repression at the company, linked to an investigation into their use of PFAS ‘forever chemicals’.
“I learned that I was being formally investigated after speaking out about the union repression taking place at Tefal,” Binet, the head of the CGT union, said Monday, speaking to France 2 public television.
She said the CGT had been warning “for months” about the dangers of PFAS, chemicals used in the company’s frying pans that do not break down in the environment.
According to Binet, the company is trying to “silence trade unionists who speak out about working conditions or the environmental impact of production”.
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Investigation for defamation
Tefal filed a defamation complaint after Binet talked about “violent management repression” at the company at the annual Fête de l’Humanité festival last year, and a formal investigation is automatic when such a complaint is made.
Binet said on Monday that the CGT would file a challenge at the prud’hommes employment tribunal to disciplinary action taken against the union’s representative at Tefal who had asked for more information about the chemical compounds and their impact on workers.
This is not the first time Binet has faced legal action over her remarks. In December she was placed under formal investigation after an an employers union filed a defamation lawsuit for Binet’s comments on a radio programme describing business leaders threatening to relocate jobs abroad as “rats” who “abandon ship”.
“This is extremely serious, two formal investigations in six months,” Binet said Monday. “On this basis, almost every trade unionist in the country could face investigation.”
Binet warned that trade union freedoms “are in danger” and called on “MPs and the government to finally bring forward a law to protect freedom of expression and trade union freedoms”.
(with AFP)
