That in essence is the argument that families of France Telecom employees who committed suicide are using in a criminal trial against France Télécom. Today, there are 39 cases that have been presented to the court. The cases present details of working lives that were made unbearable and ultimately unliveable as a result of the company’s official policies. The union claims that there were 60 employee suicides at the company between 2006 and 2010.
The problem seemed to have started when France Telecom ceased being part of the government. When that happened, the company changed its name to Orange S.A. and developed a restructuring plan that set a goal of cutting 22,000 jobs over three years by pressuring employees to leave the company.
Management is accused of implementing tactics across the whole company based on what prosecutors are calling psychological bullying. Some employees were forced to change jobs or move to new cities on an almost continuous basis. Many highly skilled engineers and technicians were demoted to jobs working on the phones in call-centers. Others received a barrage of emails from their managers suggesting that they leave the company to open a pizzeria or a rural guest house. Others still were intimidated, belittled or verbally abused. Many employees report that they were “forgotten” and left behind in an empty office when staff had moved on to a new site.
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