Labor Union Rebuttal: Are Employers Using 'Absenteeism' to Mask Management Failures?

• Employer advocacy groups have launched a campaign labeling medical leave and unjustified absences as "absenteeism," blaming workers for service delays and poor management outcomes.
• The CGT (General Confederation of Labor) argues this campaign is a deliberate attempt to shift the blame for poor corporate planning and greed onto employees.

Corporate Mismanagement

• Companies prioritize minimal staffing to maximize profits, failing to account for medical leaves or legal paid absences in their workforce planning.
• Lean staffing results in extreme workloads for remaining staff, leading to further medical leaves and degraded service quality.
• Illegal, unpaid overtime is pervasive, with millions of uncompensated hours reported weekly, allowing firms to evade social security contributions.

Structural Implications

• Service delays, particularly in telecommunications, are not caused by employee "absenteeism" but by inefficient subcontracting chains that syphon off profits meant for operational quality.
• The union counters the campaign's slogan, "While some are away, others wait," with the reality: "While some wait, others get rich."
• Quality services cannot be built on precarious labor; the union demands fair wages and humane working hours, asserting that quality and precarity are fundamentally incompatible.