Five gravediggers, agents of the City of Marseille, appeared this Wednesday before the administrative court of Marseille. The verdict will be handed down on December 3. This morning there was a demonstration in support of the agents in front of the court, at the initiative of the CGT.
Smoke bombs and flags raised, several dozen angry city agents gathered in front of Marseille’s administrative court. They responded to the CGT’s call to demonstrate to denounce sanctions they considered unfair against their colleagues. It is true that, this Wednesday morning, five agents from the City’s funeral operations center appeared before the judges. Joining a team of grave diggers, they were accused of misappropriating human bones. However, CGT denied these allegations.
The trial began when a report from the General Administration Inspectorate commissioned by the City of Marseille, and revealed by La Provence in early November, revealed numerous deficiencies in the functioning of the cemetery operations center. The report revealed significant dysfunction: disorganized remains, trash bags containing bones without identification and even theft of gold teeth…
This document itself emerged from a warning given in 2024, according to La Provence, by two managers of the cemetery’s operations center, which resulted in disciplinary procedures against five gravediggers, ahead of the trial that had just opened. At the end of this procedure, the agents are dismissed or removed from their functions.
“Since 2018, we have been warning about certain facts: working conditions, lack of resources, vehicle problems. To date, improvements have been made However, when these officers took office, there was only one coordinator who managed all the gravedigging teams. There’s a problem indeed.”defended Mickaël Casanova, general secretary of the CGT Territorial union, before the state administrative court this Wednesday morning.
Agents particularly criticized structural problems in funeral services, as well as a lack of training: “It’s a function that is very strictly regulated by law. If we don’t explain it well to them, they won’t be able to do it well. I think they’re doing the best they can, with what they have.”believes Corinne Laurent, head of funeral services.
The state administrative court’s decision is expected to come out on December 3.
