Controversy over automatic tills in French hypermarch茅
A French supermarket that is set to use only automatic cashier tills on Sunday afternoons is causing controversy, and been accused of ushering in a 鈥渄ehumanised society鈥�.
The 5,000 m虏 Geant Casino hypermarch茅 in Angers (Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire) has 115 employees, but with 鈥渁n automatic service mode [only] from 13h to 21h鈥� on Sundays, from August 25.
There will only be one or two supervisors on-site to ensure the smooth running of the machines and to deal with any customer issues.
The Casino company called the move 鈥渁 first for a hypermarch茅鈥�, and said it was responding to client demand.
Yet, workers鈥� union CGT the decision as 鈥渟ocial regression鈥� and a 鈥渏ob destroying鈥� practice.
Patrice Auvinet, secretary of the local business branch of union CGT and Carrefour hypermarch茅 union head, : 鈥淭his is job-destroying. We do not see the point, and we condemn it. This is a social step backwards. Checkout positions represent thousands of jobs in France. Little by little, we are moving towards a time in which the client does most of the work of an employee.鈥�
Mayor of Angers, Christophe B茅chu, that the move made no economic or social sense. He said: 鈥淭his decision adds to a bidding war that no-one will win, because a dehumanised society has no future.鈥�
But Casino the system has received no opposition from its existing workers, and that the Sunday supervisors will be from an external company, so employees鈥� current hours and pay will not be affected.
It said: 鈥淥ur staff will continue to work until 13h on Sundays, so we are within the [legal] rules.鈥�
