We are workers of the 115 in the Bouches‑du‑Rhône, on strike for the first time in the history of our service on September 29, to demand dignified working conditions and decent reception conditions for our service users. 
We have published an open letter to raise the alarm about the alarming situation of emergency accommodation in France, here it is:



To all professionals working in emergency accommodation,

For many years, the situation in emergency accommodation has continued to deteriorate, both for service users and for staff. The number of emergency accommodation places is far from sufficient and the resources allocated to welcoming specific publics are derisory in the face of the urgency of the situation.

To the suffering of service users is added the bewilderment of the 115 team in the Bouches‑du‑Rhône, which is suffering from an alarming understaffing, a lack of recognition for this essential work and ridiculously low pay. The malaise within our team is serious and growing, and the distress of our service users increases with every refusal of accommodation or unanswered call.

The State and the management of the association in charge of the 115 platform are the main responsible parties for this untenable situation. The promise that no one would sleep rough, made by the government five years ago, now seems very far away. Indeed, demand for emergency accommodation continues to rise, and the populations in need are evolving too, without satisfactory responses being provided to welcome them.

There are still hundreds of places missing in the Bouches‑du‑Rhône, and cramming everyone into hotels without quality social support will not solve the problem at all! Because that is indeed the Prefecture’s policy: to cram everyone into often unsuitable places, without taking account of individual specificities and without any real prospect of getting most of our service users off the streets.

We are even running out of emergency places for women victims of domestic violence, despite the government having made this the “major cause of the five‑year term.” Far from the promises, reality is cruel. The various policies implemented in recent years are little more than thinly veiled attempts to rank forms of misery. Today our duty is to raise the alarm: unconditional access to emergency accommodation has never been so much at risk!

We cannot ignore the economic and social context we are living in: inflation has been rising for months, energy prices are skyrocketing and the political context heralds only austerity in the months to come. EVERYTHING IS RISING EXCEPT SALARIES. As precarious workers, we are directly affected by this crisis. Like many workers, we do not know how we will heat our homes this winter, nor how we will properly feed our children.

With reforms such as unemployment insurance, the RSA and the likely upcoming pension reform, the government is trying to make the most precarious layers of the population pay for the crisis. These policies have devastating effects on the people we work with daily because they only serve to feed the soil of misery.

As professionals in emergency accommodation, we are on the front line to measure these effects and we believe we cannot remain silent in the face of this situation. We refuse to be mere managers of misery, without questioning the structural and political causes that continue to deepen the poverty affecting our service users.

For all the reasons set out above we demand:

· Indexing our salaries to inflation, as well as a pay rise of at least €300 net per month;

· A reduction in our daily working hours;

· Massive recruitment within our service to end the understaffing that prevents us from doing our job properly.

We do not want to fight in isolation, and we are aware that only a massive and united mobilisation will lead to our demands being met. That is why we are joining the national strike on September 29 to demand wages that allow us to live, not just survive, and decent working conditions.

We call on all professionals in emergency accommodation, CHRS, day centres, first‑reception structures, and more broadly the whole social and medico‑social sector, to strike on September 29!

WORKERS IN EMERGENCY ACCOMMODATION, EVERYONE ON STRIKE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29!

Organised workers of the 115 in the Bouches‑du‑Rhône.


To continue our fight we need your financial support.