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More suicides at France Telecom

Nicola Hebden
Nicola Hebden - [email protected]
More suicides at France Telecom
France Télécom Paris headquarters

A 30-year-old pregnant woman, and a 54-year-old man, both employees of France Télécom, have killed themselves in the past two weeks.

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Between 2008 and 2009, 35 France Télécom employees killed themselves, and the latest suicides bring the total this year up to four.

The man, who worked at the Noisy site, west of Paris, was apparently going through a divorce. The woman worked in Arcueil, south of Paris. Neither left a suicide note.

Unions have called for a thorough investigation into the two deaths.

Patrick Ackermann, of the SUD union, told daily paper Le Parisien: “Two suicides in two weeks is worrying. We haven’t had such tragic news in a long time.

“But at the moment we don’t have enough perspective to make a judgement (on why the suicides came about).”

Previous suicides have been linked by other France Télécom employees to the lack of job security within the company.

In 2008, 22,000 job cuts were planned until new CEO Stéphane Richard was appointed and the plan was suspended. But a survey of employees in 2010 showed that 25% still felt stressed by their situation.

An investigation into a suicide in September 2011 found that “organisational changes had not been sufficiently considered” by management.

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