News

The French Labour Minister Xavier Darcos will be meeting with France Telecom’s CEO to discuss a number of suicides among its staff.



23 employees of France Telecom have killed themselves since the beginning of 2008 and unions argue that this is related to heavy-handed management methods following privatization in 1998.



The company says the rate of suicides is statistically not unusual for a company with a 100,000 workforce and that the number of suicides among its staff in 2008 is roughly similar to the numbers from recent years.



However, nearly all staff referred specifically to pressures at work in notes written just prior to their death. Since privatization, 40,000 jobs have been cut, and there is pressure on many France Telecom workers to leave or to accept new working conditions. Workers speak of a "management of terror" and "moral harassment".



Last week unions held demonstrations in cities including Paris, Troyes, Nancy and Marseille calling for a response from the company.



The company concedes that the transition from public enterprise to private would be likely to cause stress and has agreed to implement a counseling program and to stay internal staff transfers until talks with unions have taken place.