Africa-Press – Mauritius. Infinity, one of the biggest BPO companies, employs over 400 people. They are between 18 and 60 years old, with a majority of young people. In the pyramid of “call-centers”, the base includes several “tele-agents” (from Rs7,500 to Rs15,000 monthly), a supervisor (Rs18,000 to Rs23,000.
Per month), one or two assistants set managers – ACDP (Rs23,000), a set manager, 3 or 4 production managers and a production manager. There are also directors for other departments such as administration and human resources .
. Among them, 30 “tele-agents” volunteer to go on hunger strike. One of them was born in France to Mauritian parents . . .
Arrived 8 months ago, he has been working at Infinity for 7 months. There are single people, mothers, young couples . . . What is striking first is that young people are familiar with the capitalist system.
The majority were born into this system in our own country and as they put it so well: “When we integrated Infinity, we were told that we should not expect recognition, whether we are excellent or not, in our.
use. This explains why the employees decided to demand their wages and to go elsewhere in search of another job. Employees in this sector accept their working conditions.
Working hours are from 12:30 p. m. to 10:30 p. m. or from 1:30 p. m. to 11:30 p. m. (depending on summer or winter hours in France). They say they have “sausage bread” after 9:00 p. m. and those who make “enn karem” have no other menu.
The world of work today is cruel and unstable, all young people in several sectors of employment talk about it: lack of meritocracy in the private sector, hypocrisy, opaque promotion criteria, acute sense of hierarchy that affects attitude and the behavior of some towards those at the bottom of the hierarchy, late payment, deferred payments.
They realize that they are in a time when you can also find yourself at the door of a business en masse overnight. It even seems that during training, some do not receive any “stipend”, contrary to what is legally stipulated.
They accept this situation in order to be among the lucky ones hired at the end of the training period. After waiting in vain for their monthly salary for three months, Infinity employees are asking themselves questions:
1 / Will the money arrive one of these days as Jean Suzanne tells them?
2 / First there were the financial problems in 2008, then the late payments, then the non-payment.
Can we continue to borrow money to live and pay off the “loans”? How do you pay the debts that have accumulated over the past three months? Organization of the strike
Somehow, the strike is organized. Fortunately the families are united and help the strikers in their action. This movement is characterized by a certain naivety.
Sunday, we hear fuse here and there, “Kot minis summer health, li ti bizin vini parski li pa koné nou malad kan nou pa manzé”, “kot minis de la fem, enan ene mazorite madam here? Someone explained to them that it takes a minimum of 20 days to guarantee the credibility of the action and possibly the displacement of the Minister of Labor, directly concerned by their problem.
The majority of the strikers present look surprised. It must be said that this generation has neither the union spirit nor the political flame: the strikers, young and old, are unwittingly caught in a torment .
. They are being forged little by little. So much the better ! Slowly but surely ! According to several people interviewed on the spot, the decision to go on strike was spontaneous. At the beginning, there is no preparation.
As soon as it is said, as soon as it is done: the voluntary strikers set up in “the mess” in front of the Infinity premises. For an action of this magnitude, it is enough to tremble hearing this, but the saying also goes: With a valiant heart, nothing is impossible.
The initial difficulties are not lacking. On Sunday, during the vigil, a young spokesperson said: “We have no political bias, we do not even know the labor laws.
“It is true that the Mauritian education system, devoid of teaching the history of the country, on the one hand, and civic education, on the other hand, absolutely does not prepare young people to become leaders.
of tomorrow, whether in the trade union or political sector . . . Certainly, the education system – dominated by private lessons – the very example of corruption, given to young people from their earliest childhood – is also involved.
To satisfy teachers who want to fill their pockets at all costs, the syllabuses are overloaded and dominated by academic knowledge. Then, rote learning is considered the best strategy for passing exams, which makes young people passive and lacking in initiative.
It is no wonder that young people did not think on their own to improve their knowledge of labor laws after six days of strike . . . Fortunately, it is in the heat of the moment, using their “common sense” and perhaps their survival instinct, that the strikers understand the scope of their action, the need to mobilize in a more structured way to achieve this.
in the face of the monster of capitalism, bringing together politicians and agents from all sides of the Mauritian political class, the “run-in” of all kinds, and all these other undesirable people who march to gain any advantage to the detriment of the strikers .
. what counts is solidarity and unity in the common action undertaken. Willful ignorance?
There is also this young opposition politician who says this to the strikers: “You are a kind of role model, your action will determine what happens for other companies.
Is it a kind of flattery, as in the Fables de la Fontaine? Or is it this young politician’s ignorance of the world of work dominated by unbridled ultra-liberalism? It is clear that this young man did not understand much about the problems of the working world today otherwise how can he believe that if the Infinity problem is properly resolved then it will be possible? to sleep soundly?
Take, for example, the ecological fight. The naive believed, at the time, that the preservation of the Ferney Valley would determine land use policies.
However, we had to fight for the Sacred Mountain of Morne Brabant, then against aquaculture for the ocean and the lagoons, Ilot Gabriel and Ile Plate and the battle to preserve the beaches against the East Beach Authority, so to speak, interminable .
All in all, there have been and there will be, in the future, as many battles to be waged as there are and will be capitalist projects, formed exclusively for “profit-making” And affecting the entire working class in the world! And in Mauritius!
Worse still, does this young deputy ignore, by choice or by ignorance of the Mauritian social fabric, that capitalist exploitation through the non-payment of bonuses, the obligation to take leave, or even organized technical unemployment, is located in several other sectors of Mauritius, these sectors that almost all politicians do not dare to touch for fear of “getting burned” from the big fundraising card at the time of general elections? Instead of speaking unnecessarily, he would do better to ask for transparency in party funding; it would at least be of use to Parliament
The following of the events Young people care about their country’s image abroad. They know that the future of our country and the jobs of many young people will be in jeopardy if there is no quick solution to their problem.
For this, they are prepared to continue the hunger strike peacefully, in their own way. Young people are determined to prove that they are responsible and that they are able to fight for their rights.
Young people have always supported just causes: it is right that trade unionists and civil society stand by their side today and that the salaries of 400 people be paid as quickly as possible to end the hunger strike movement.
Everything can be learned. Therefore, young people must learn independently what the school system has totally ignored but so essential in today’s world of work: to organize, to structure or to perish. Any other choice is futile.
While waiting for the next capitalist enterprise which will also throw its employees into the streets and all those who hire sub-contractors, from the private sector or the para-public sector, thus organizing the exploitation of the workers who are at the bottom of the scale, all those speechless who do not attract the press and who suffer in silence because of unpaid bills, delays, all those time bombs .
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