Interview with a CSE member: Marguerite
In a few weeks, Back Makers in France elect a new CSE. Marguerite is its current secretary. What’s it like?
The Comité social et économique (CSE) officially represents Back Makers. It is elected every 4 years, its composition and mission are set by French law. To explain its role, we let our current representatives talk about it!
👋 Welcome! Could you introduce yourself?
Marguerite: Hallo! I joined BM 4½ years ago in Bordeaux, first as a contingent worker and then on a full time contract. I’ve been working in Customer Delight within the Ops department ever since. Two years ago, I joined the CSE during partial elections for the ETAM workforce, and I’ve been its secretary for the past year and a half.
🤔 What matters the most for you in the CSE?
Marguerite: Having a voice. France’s system gives us an organized space for social dialogue, which isn’t the case everywhere. I believe it’s essential to use that space, both as a form of empowerment and as a duty. It matters to have a counterbalance to leadership and management. That said, let’s be realistic: the CSE is mostly a consultative body. Even so, it’s still important to speak up.
While the CSE is responsible for organizing employee benefits, I’m personally very attentive to the health and safety of employees, respect for labor law, and quality of life at work. That might be the German side of me coming through 😉
😲 What are your strongest memories?
Marguerite: I joined the CSE in 2022, after the PSE. So the first major negotiation I took part in was the introduction of the return to office policy. What struck me was management’s rigidity on the office policy, and the realization that employee well-being wouldn’t always come first.
The lesson I took from that is that even though the CSE has no real decision making power, it can still do one thing: inform. Inform employees as much and as transparently as possible through the meeting minutes.
✊ Why did you join Solidaires Informatique?
Marguerite: Community and organization are the best way to secure and defend our rights. Every social movement has worked this way.
The company likes to use the “David against Goliath” metaphor when talking about its ambition to take market share from established players. Well, if you follow that logic through, joining a union is the only logical response to facing the internal Goliath.
We describe ourselves as an activist brand, so having unionized employees should really be a health indicator of what we aspire to be.
I specifically joined this union because I strongly believe in the intersectional approach it takes.
🤔 If a Back Maker is thinking about joining a union, what do you tell them?
Marguerite: Come on in, the more the merrier. It’s not expensive, it’s not complicated, and your employer doesn’t have to know. It’s not about starting a riot! (laughs) It’s about joining a community to ensure good, fair, and healthy working conditions for everyone.
This interview is the 3rd part of a series. Read the 1st interview with Antoine and the 2nd interview with Cyril.
Want to keep BM weird? Join the CSE with us!
French law gives CSE members 6 half-days per month to fulfill their duties. You’ll get training. It is not mandatory to join Solidaires Info to be on the union list, but the union will support you!
The CSE is here to protect our working conditions and share our concerns with management. For more than 2 years, Solidaires Info union has been standing with Back Makers — let’s continue! 🚀
AI Survey Reminder: 5 minutes to share your opinion
The adoption of AI has serious consequences on the workforce. We believe it is not going to stop anytime soon, and that is why we need a dialogue. So we need to hear your voice!
This survey is 100% anonymous and independent from leadership. It is organized by Solidaires Informatique, CGT Spain, and CGT France, and we’ll use the results in the forthcoming discussions with management. It will take you less than 5 minutes to complete.
Bargaining collectively as Back Makers
Elections for your CSE representatives are coming up in September. For the first time, there will be a first round in which only unions can run. The CSE’s means for direct action are limited but management is required to answer all our questions without cherry-picking as in the Monday Brief. It’s important to mobilize from the first round and to vote for a unionized CSE to make the most of this space.
The CSE will no longer be the only body to represent us
Unions that get more than 10% in the first round of the elections will be able to negotiate agreements with management. The union will rely on you and can draw on external resources.
- We will continue to increase opportunities for dialogue (surveys, meetings, after-works, lunches), in collaboration with Back Makers abroad, to better represent you and bring the issues that matter the most to the attention of management (Office Policy, AI impact, use of Dev Plans, etc.).
- The union can share information from CSE meetings immediately and without management’s approval. As soon as the CSE was consulted on changes to the Office Policy, we could have built a power dynamic: it is easier to influence decisions before they are announced than after.
- The union offers extensive training (on labor law, risk prevention, etc.), and opportunities to exchange with representatives of other companies, helping us fulfill our roles effectively.
The collective against “divide and conquer” tactics
Individual performance reviews and one-on-ones, outsourcing, lack of transparency… We want to restore equality and a sense of collective to all of this. Some harmonization measures already exist but we need to go further.
- We want greater transparency regarding salaries. Ranges must be published so that everyone can verify the honesty of the information being shared.
- The gender equality assessment is incomplete and opportunistic. Comparisons must not be based solely on equivalent positions and working hours and subcontractors should be included. Women are underrepresented in the BoT and that’s even worse at the highest levels (IC5+, EM3+).
- Some women report being evaluated differently than their male counterparts by managers and peers; the CSE can alert management to this. It can also request an expert assessment regarding the use of AI in this context as it amplifies these biases.
Ensuring that everyone is treated fairly is at the heart of the CSE we want to build.
This article is the second part of a series. Read the first article: Taking care of all Back Makers.
Curious about the unions at BM? Meet us in Paris!
🍝 Monday 7, lunch
We’ll go to a quiet place 15-min away from the office, leaving Championnet at 12:15pm to be back before 2:00pm. Contact us to register and get the details!
🍺 Thursday 17, after-work
Solidaires Info, CGT France, and CGT Spain joint after-works 🇫🇷 🇪🇸
Bunker Paris, 54 rue Guy Môquet (10 min from the office) — 18h-20h
🍺 Monday 28, after-work
Solidaires Info, CGT France, and CGT Spain joint after-works 🇫🇷 🇪🇸
The Bunker Paris is closed on Mondays, so we still have to find another place 😅
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