I received the following item, which I post for all to read:
Senator demands justice for French Embassy employeesFrenchculturenow. May 16, 2008In a letter dated May 15, 2008, French Senator Charles Balesi, representing French expatriates in the United States, has announced his intention to investigate the urgent problems facing local recruits of the French Embassy in the United States.France employs thousands of French and non-French employees at its Embassy, consulates, Unitied Nations, tourism and economic offices in the United States. These employees have recently become vocal critics of the Embassy’s exploitative labour practices, neglect of employee welfare, enforced unpaid overtime, union-busting, harassment, punitive terminations, and double standards which favour French expatriates at the expense of non-French employees.At least a dozen Embassy employees have been fired in the last year for speaking out in favor of employee rights, and the French unions CGT abd CFDT have been busy for the last four years defending employees who have been unfairly terminated by the Embassy after from 7 to 20 years years of faithful service and excellent work evaluations.Senator Balesi mentions in his letter the case of Laurence Pierre, who was fired by the Consulate General of France in Los Angeles after nine years of service. Without going into the merits of her case (which is just the latest of dozens) Balesi notes that these capricious terminations would be illegal in France; they result in painful suffering for the terminated employee; and they damage France’s reputation.Balesi will soon be proposing for legislative approval a charter of fundamental principles to govern the Embassy’s managment of local recruits.The French Embassy in the United States has not responded to Balesi’s letter, but in past cases of employee grievance it has denied wrongdoing and claimed blanket diplomatic immunity from examination or legal action, as it flouts French and American state and federal labour protections and legislation. “The diplomats make up the workplace rules as they go along, knowing they can hire and fire anyone anytime for any reason, without rhyme, reason, or recourse,” said one American ex-employee of the Embassy, who had seven years of excellent work reports and a merit raise, before he was fired by a new French political appointee without explanation, severance pay or letters of recommendation.Some employee advocates who have followed this matter for years go so far as to suggest that the Embassy has a blacklist and is eliminating anyone who has been vocal advocate for workplace improvements, despite France’s legal protection of “dialogue sociale.”“It’s a pogrom which started under President Chirac and Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, and which has been emboldened by Sarkozy’s anti-labour policies,” said the ex-employee. “The irony is that Sarkozy campaigned on ‘more pay for more work,’ but the Foreign Ministry and Embassy is viciously silencing internal critics who demand modernised and efficient administrative management.”http://www.frenchculturenow.com/balesi-1.php
34 comments:
Thank you for shedding light on this matter. I myself am an American ex employee of the Embassy who was "kicked out". I applaud your efforts and hope they'll contribute to bettering the situation for future recruits so they won't have to suffer my fate and disappointment after over 3 years of loyal service.
I am Laurence Pierre and to this day I didn't have a proper answer to my problem , no right to unemployment benefits, no more medical insurance for my children and myself, no news for any possible severance package. Just arrogance from my supervisor that manage to have me fired because he didn't like women with children, to the Consul General total indifference to the situation. the previous Consuls had been much more respectful to the local hire. I did get an half answer from the secretary General Andre Leclere that my request for a severance package had been forwarded to Paris.
When I ask him under which labor law local (french or american?) employees depend upon, his answer was why don't you find out for yourself and inform me!!! Arrogance and acting above all rules of any country is apparently the way of being for some french diplomats. I even had one Vice-Consul telling me that in India local hire bend their head when entering in his office for a signature.
the mess is even worse with the diplomats who got appointed right before and after the presidential election...not to mention the situation with the IRS which is still not resolved
It looks like the French Ambassador does not care, the objective is not efficiency but how to bullshit the folks in Paris so they can get promoted...and you can not touch these people who are protected by their status (civil servants) and political friends
they have no management experience and often prefer to hire their mistress or friends ...
the problem being that many of the local employees are the most qualified and get no recognition for their work
thank you C. Balesi for your help and courage and thanks to A.Goldhammer for your vision...and keep going if you want to get more people talking
This make you wonder why France bother paying a consul and the stay of his family in Los Angeles.
The position has no political value and if the consul does not even manage the affairs of the consulate and its employees you wonder what they are doing here. The French consulate in Los Angeles is really simply an office doing passports and helping French people getting school scholarship. This is done by the permenent staff.(the people who get things done) The consuls goes from parties to parties where they are welcomed as a VIP (laughable),this is really all they do, there is nothing to be arrogant about. Aside from this , at least the present one ,does not do much. Apparently he cannot even help the employees such as Laurence who get fired after 9 years of office when they have 2 kids to take care of…..a good office manager would be of much better use for everyone C’est assez nul!
This make you wonder why France bother paying a consul and the stay of his family in Los Angeles.
The position has no political value and if the consul does not even manage the affairs of the consulate and its employees you wonder what they are doing here. The French consulate in Los Angeles is really simply an office doing passports and helping French people getting school scholarship. This is done by the permenent staff.(the people who get things done) The consuls goes from parties to parties where they are welcomed as a VIP (laughable),this is really all they do, there is nothing to be arrogant about. Aside from this , at least the present one ,does not do much. Apparently he cannot even help the employees such as Laurence who get fired after 9 years of office when they have 2 kids to take care of…..a good office manager would be of much better use for everyone C’est assez nul!
I would not blame Sarko for this, this is old French policies where useless diplomats are treated like nobility,no work done, just appearance.
How ever maybe it is time for changing this system that does not work. I agree with the comment above, and Sarko who says that he is for "le travail, le travail le travail" needs to reform the system .
We, the French people in Los Angeles do not need a useless consul, we wants someone who really "travail" for the French people, not some one arrogant who needs courbettes. ...
What would it take for them to understand?...maybe a lawsuit from Mrs. Pierre.
As a French citizen and a permanent resident of the United States, I am outraged by the way this woman has been treated. I am extremely upset to hear that my native country "FRANCE" will leave one of its citizen and her two children (also French citizens) with no resources and soon to be homeless in the street of Los Angeles.
WHAT A SHAME!
Employees from French consulates and embassies are contributing to the French taxes and also file state and federal income tax returns where they reside and work and end up paying taxes here too!
My advise to you Ms. Pierre would be to immediately seek unemployment benefits with the Employment Development Department (EDD), but chances are that the French Consulate isn't registered as a company to do business here, has no EIN number and do not contribute to its shares of employer's taxes to the American government. If this is the case, then you must follow up with the French system and applied for "le chômage". I am certain that the Consulate of France in Los Angeles, its consul or staff will not be able to assist you in this matter (what is the job of a consul besides partying anyway?)
If I were you I will directly contact the CGT or the Pruhomme in France. You have rights.
Also, please note that it is illegal in France, in the United States of America, in the State of California or in the County of Los Angeles to discriminate a person (you) because you have children or intimidate an employee. You should contact the California Bar Association and mention your story. The court of Los Angeles can appoint one of its attorneys (public defender) if you can’t afford one.
At last talk about it or involve the media. As we say in France: L'union fait la force!"
Good Luck Ms. Pierre.
this is indeed not acceptable and I think we are all tired of it. My guess is that Sarkozy is not aware of the situation + he's surrounded by civil servants including the former French Ambassador in DC, JD Levitte, who's now his diplomatic advisor...
they recently let go other people including in Houston, Boston Atlanta ... and the cultural services in New York which is the most vocal since the IRS crisis, paid the price also
for years the French Embassy has been firing local staff without any credible reason and no benefit at the end, don't think the unions in Paris are helping, they are more concerned about protecting the civil servants
the only way is to sue them in France and in the US
IMPORTANT MESSAGE
for those who have been fired with no explanation or benefit: talk to the press in both countries, it is the ONLY WAY
you have to know that nobody is reponsible for anything at the French Embassy, the diplomats are here for 2, 3 or 4 years - it is like the Napoleon army they don't care about you, you're not on the map as a local employee, but bad press can be a problem for their career...JUST EXPRESS YOURSELF!
a last, it would be great to have more comments on this site, are you guys scared or what??
Another concrete example, the Cultural Counselor of the French Cultural Services in New York fired four core employees upon her arrival in 2007, and threatened several more with dismissal just to strike terror into her staff, since they threatened to spearhead the cause of embassy employee rights.
All appeals for justice to the French government’s offices of employee relations are met with silence, paper-shuffling, delays … every trick to make problems vanish without being rectified.
The Ambassador, who should be overseeing the good behaviour of his French expatriate appointees, simply lets them run amok during their four year tenure, as they offend and alienate the embassy’s army of local recruits, who are supposedly France’s first line of defense in its diplomatic interface with America.
One has to assume the Ambassador supports these efforts to intimidate "le petit peuple" who dare to ask for justice. Former Ambassador Levitte was white with rage when local employees questioned him on such basic rights as "dialogue sociale," double taxation, the Employee Handbook / Vademecum and contract revisio, which were promised but not delivered for over 10 years!
The French diplomat's attitude, stated explicitly to local staff in meetings, is simply: "Its an honor to work for France: love it or leave it." That's a quote.
This is all an open secret within the Embassy, but anyone who dares to suggest remedial action is threatened, silenced, or fired.
The French Foreign Affairs Ministry like most of the French government is modelled on the ancient regime: only expatriate French appointees (the new aristocrats) can innovate and make change. Inferiors (local recruits of French or American nationality) are serfs who must be silent and obey. When something goes right, the boss takes the credit. When something goes wrong, the serf is punished. At the end of four years the expatriate is automatically promoted to a new post, with a raise and praise, no matter how good or bad his performance was.
Meanwhile the local Franco/American recruit who guided the expat’s steps and ensured his success, can never be promoted into an expatriate job slot, but can be fired without cause by the whim of a new boss after 5, 10 or even 20 years of service.
Basically this is indentured servitude and neo-colonialism on a breathtakingly arrogant institutionalised scale. It explains why French unions are always striking and demanding legal protections: because no ne can depend on any common decency in the French ruling class.
This is so ridiculous. I am outraged by what is happenning here. Let's do something about it!
Does anyone has the email addresses of the various office to send this site to?
We are just sick and tired of this arrogant attitude of the useless present french "diplomacy"
also, everyone should send this link to as many people as possible.
It is time for the french people living abroad to be heard by the french government.
For a response from the French Embassy, see here
Typical response :"It is not our fault, it is the americans's fault"
Right...Well I will say to the French embassy: I had the same problem here and this is what happened:
1- I got unemployment
2- I got severance money
So thank you so much for all the effort that you are doing....
On top of it, it is not the American who fired a 9 years employee with 2 children so maybe it is time to take responsibility instead of blaming others....
So please, do not give us those stupid excuses, we live here, we know how the system works here . Nous ne somme pas si facile a manipuler, alors ne nous servez pas la faute des americans a toute les sauces..
Following the response from the French embassy: Why is not the French embassy registered with EDD.
Every American business is registered with EDD. It is of course costly to provide unemployment benefit to the employees….This is what you say:” En matiére de droit du travail, et ce dans tous les pays du monde, les personnels recrutés localement et employés dans les services diplomatiques et consulaires sont couverts par les dispositions du droit local. Aux Etats-Unis, c'est donc le droit américain qui s'applique aux employés locaux Then why do you escape paying for unemployment benefits when every American company has to. You must have save so much money all those years!!!!!
Hi I am the person that wrote the comment on june 2, 3.25pm
Let me clarify something. when I said that this happened to me here, I mean while working for an AMERICAN COMPANY, I had the same problem and got all benefits.I did not want any confusion
Thank you
I just read the "reponse" from the French Embassy
- the Consul in Boston is not qualified to answer, only the Ambassador and his head of staff/legal affairs know about the subject
- there's no "droit local" for the local employees in the US otherwise the Embassy would be sued 25 times a year / pure manipulation from them
- the "social dialogue" is a joke, this answer shows how disconnected the Consuls are from reality and how they can lie at the Embassy's request
- the reason why the Embassy made deal with the IRS is that the local employees started talking to the French press during the presidential election (article in Le Monde) = M.Sarkozy is the one who signed the French-American treaty years ago, the French Ambassador had to react quickly to protect his future boss.
Their original reaction was : "it is not our problem, we are not your employer" (yes it is true!!) and you are a bunch of cheaters
- however the situation with IRS is back to step 1
It is funny that the Boston Consulate should reply to a national problem. I guess they think its only a local issue since the blog is Boston-based.
The response of Consul General Gauthier illustrates the problem local employees face: the French diplomats change the subject, shift focus, get hung up on technicalities (Senator or not Senator?), ignore the real accusations, and wave off the specific problems with generalizations about local law applying. The Gallic shrug: hey, its not our problem!
The whole “local law applies” argument is a convenient fiction which benefits French state offices abroad, where social protections are usually much less employee-friendly than French law, and pay scales are lower.
If France was serious about “exporting Republican values” – like “egalité” - it would offer its foreign employees the same benefits and protections it offers French employees in the same office.
But no, France has an apartheid system, as the original post mentioned. If you are not a French state expatriate employee with an A or B job classification, you are a second class citizen. For the expat: subsidized housing, school allowances, daycare, salary boosts, iron-clad contracts, travel allowances, tax breaks, etc. etc. For the local employee, local salary rates, and instant termination if an expatriate boss does not like the look of your face.
The whole "local law applies” argument is based on mauvais foi, because when faced with a labour dispute, the Embassy denies it is an “employer” under American law. By Gallic logic, this also means that its local recruits do not have the right to organize unions because they are not “employees.”
You have to take the Embassy to court to get it to admit its responsibilites under US labour law. This is one of the grievances the local recruits have. The Embassy will say and do anything to slip out of its legal responsibilities, and to avoid setting any legal precedent by yielding to employee demands. I am pretty sure this is official State policy for its foreign offices.
Meanwhile, local recruits are suffering REAL INJUSTICE AND ABUSE at the hands of French state employees and expat political appointees on US soil, who abuse local labour laws and the French Embassy’s alleged “diplomatic immunity” in order to create a workplace culture of terror and exploitation which would be illegal in France. In some cases, Americans have had to hire lawyers to write cease and desist letters to their toxic French bosses, who think they are above the law.
If France had any ethical pride, their would realize that local employees are dependent on France for protection and guidance. Alas, we locals have been disappointed by the French state response to our polite requests for redress. "Dialogue sociale" now merely serves as a way for bossses to discover who are the most vocal activists. These employees soon find themselves without a job. So "dialogue sociale" is a joke as long as employees have no protections against reprisals.
By the way, the Embassy only “defended” the cause of local recruits in the case of double taxation very reluctantly, after many delays, and only after the local recruits raised vocal public protests. The Embassy was materially to blame in originaly embroiling the local employees in double taxation through its own neglect and inefficiency, so they had a moral responsibility to put things to rights. Of course, now they pretend they were always the employees champions and the IRS was to blame. Sad to say, but you can’t trust a word they say on any matter.
Anyone who wants the employee side of the story should email CGT Union representative Mr. Daniel Vazeille [Daniel.VAZEILLE@diplomatie.gouv.fr]
who has defended local recruits for the last five years. He has dossiers on many shocking cases of the harassment and capricious / vindictive termination of Embassy employees.
Dear Commenters,
I should have made it clear that M. Gauthier forwarded my request for information to the Embassy, where the response was prepared by someone else (I don't know who). M. Gauthier should not be held responsible for what you judge to be the inadequacy of the response.
I am also a local agent working for the French Consulate in Los Angeles and I have no intention to play the blame game but I would like to clarify the following matters:
Firstly, Mrs Pierre was not fired, her yearly contract was simply not renewed. No action taken by the consulate is or could be considered unlawful under State law. However, the question of severance has been brought to the attention of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Secondly, it is essential to note that local employees of the French Embassy and Consulates in the Unites States are offered a benefit that far exceed anything that they would normally find in this country:
a) A local agent is offered 8 weeks in a total vacation package (holiday, public holiday and “RTT”) which is easily four times the national average.
b) The Embassy and the French Consulates also pay a very significant amount of the agents’s insurance costs and reimburse the agent (also to a significant percentage) of what he or she pays in Federal Social Security Taxes. Agents are also entitled to paid maternity leave (16 weeks).
Finally to be specific to my consulate, I can attest to the fact that its management has recently made extraordinary efforts to relocate the office to provide the agents (including local agents) with a better working environment. At the new facilities, agents have increased access to French and francophone organizations with whom we share a building (Alliance Française, French American Chamber of Commerce, the Invest in France Agency… ). Plus, each agent has his or her own individual office and parking space. Anyone who is familiar with office space in Los Angeles will confirm that this situation is both ideal and extraordinary.
The Anonymous Los Angeles employee defending the Consulate’s termination of Mrs. Pierre, does not tell the full story of the Embassy’s slippery employment policies. Here’s the low down:
You say that Mrs. Pierre was was not “fired” but was "simply" terminated by “non-renewal” of her contract. This is a verbal and legal technicality which the Embassy is fond of invoking in its defense, but it fools no one. It merely demonstrates their moral bankruptcy and double standards in using a contract system expressly contrived so the Embassy has the greatest latitude in its behaviour and least responsibility toward its employees.
Some details:
The Embassy’ local employees are only offered one year non-renewable contacts, no matter how long they have worked at the Embassy. Unlike their French counterparts, and in contravention of French labour law, the Embassy’s local employees do not get any automatic job protection or contract extension no matter how long they have served, and no matter how good his/her job evaluations have been.
Each year the Embassy’s hundreds of local recruits must submit a written renewal request to their direct boss, who decides whether or not to employ the person for another 12 months.
The boss, a political appointee who changes every four years, may decide for ANY OR NO REASON, to “non-renew” the local employee contract. He or she has absolute power to hire and fire. The Embassy offers the employee no forum for grievance or redress.
But there is another reason that French bosses always “non-renew” and never “fire.” French government guidelines specify that if a boss fires an employee in mid-contract, they need to fill out a “cause for termination” form which goes to Paris and remans on their career record. But in the case of “non-renewal” no reason or cause needs to be given. Thanks to this system, the Embassy bosses never “fire” anyone during the work year, they just wait until the employee requests renewal, then say “non-renewal.”
All sorts of dirty deeds are done under the mask of "non-renewal."
There are some French expatriate bureaucrats at the Political and Cultural Consular level who are serial terminators, who have left dozens of local employees and their families destitute, in the USA, in Britain and other places they have been posted. These people, often lawyers politically appointed for their family’s ties to the government, are dreaded like the plague, and are well know to French unions who compile lists of their victims. These “terminating angels” always “non-renew,” they never “fire,” so Paris pretends to have no knowledge of their actions.
The annual contract renewal ritual is a terrifying and stressful period when bosses settle old scores, fire suspected union organisers, and make room for their new favorites. Contract renewal notices are often delayed a month or more, even past the original contract’s expiry date, leaving the employee officially unemployed but still receiving a paycheck. During this stressful period the employee must accept the boss’s verbal assurances that the contract will be renewed.
Those local employees who are not fired are made to feel as insecure as possible to stifle “dialogue sociale,” union organisation, and to eliminate any employee who does not kowtow low enough.
This system is ripe for abuse since new French bosses with new agendas are always arriving from Paris. Sadly, these careerists are often eager to exploit their new post to pay off old debts to their French cronies (the well-known French practice of “renvoyer l'ascenseur”). This leads to many cruel, capricious, unjustified, and vindictive terminations. For example, you will get a 50-year old American woman secretary being fired by the Embassy (for no professional fault of her own) after 20 years service and replaced by a 22 year old French kid who is a friend, relative or lover of the boss.
This system of capricious employment also leaves the door open for discrimination based on age, race, gender, and sexual orientation.
That’s the truth about “non-termination.” It does not absolve the Embassy from moral or ethical resposibility for the cruel, selfish, damaging actions of its executives.
The local employees of the French Embassy in the USA have demanded to participate in a system-wide reform of the Embassy's employment practices, but the Embassy has refused all overtures and treats its skilled local-recruit office workers like Mexican gardeners, to be handed some cash and dumped at the end of each work day.
As for Ms. Pierre’s claim for severance pay being “brought to the attention of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” Good luck with that. Most claims wait years without a response.
the June 3, 2008 5:44 PM is ridiculous, no local employee would ever write such a thing! It has clearly been wrtitten by an expatriate...of course Ms Pierre has been fired!!!
the Embassy renews our contract every year so they can get rid of us if they want to without any explanation. It always happens this way
Should one laugh or cry at the fact that no French official will go on the record or take responsibility for a public statement? It perfectly demonstrates the Jesuiical tactics of the Embassy cadres: hide, equivocate, obfuscate, pass the buck.
Mr. Gauthier is a French Consul, and therefore an official spokesperson for France, but the message that passes through his office to Mr. Goldhammer is suddenly not his responsibility !?
Everyone passes the buck to the French Embassy in Washington – but they will not say who wrote the “official” but anonymous response. Kafka-esque!
The local recruits of the Frech embassy wrestle with this sort of slippery dealing every day as they try to get straight answers and commitments from the French diplomats and Enarques.
Employees in the us under local law are not employed for 9 years "on contract".So the consulate have to decide under wich law they obey...they cannot switch from french to american depending on what is better for them.
Employees do have offices? And what do other employees do in the us, work at the local park?
To the "anonymous employee" above:
I have never ever met an employee who would trade a bigger office for unemployment benefits. I have never ever met an employee who would think that it is fine to simply "not renew a contract" after 9 years in a company. So I would simply say: Yo guys have to take your responsabilities and enroll your employees in un employment benefits.
A nice big office may look good for visitors but thanks to this blogg, we are finding out that it is just a decor.....and who cares about the decor? This is absolutly not fair period, do not try to sell us the size of the office or the "fault of the droit american"
Just do the right thing for a change
It seems that Mr Golhammer opened a pandorra's box.
Miss Pierre didn't have her individual office and had to fight to get a desk to work! to do the correspondence and other tasks that could not be done at the window desk. She work face to face with the public with no security window for two months during the move, with no computers to issue visas and a very angry public.
Yes, we have 8 weeks vacations and oh my god! a medical insurance!!! which we actually pay for too. The vacations , let's talk about it... don't you think it will be a little obscene to have half the staff on 8 weeks vacation and the local recruits on 2 or 3 weeks?
The fact that the vacation benefits are outsdanding for the local recruits (yet normal for the french public servants). This fact doesn't justify, moral harassment,discrimination, threats to have your contract not renew.
it doesn't justify either to be lay off without compensation.
Is there two laws for two different type of citizen. The worthy : the french public servant and the unworthy: the local hire.
Another interesting fact is that local recruit at least the bi-national and green card holer pay the CS , which is a solidarity fund for unemployment for public servant in France.(have you ever seen one laid off). It is actually for the temporary hired public servant in France.
We pay as well the CSG and CRDS but being abroad we are not entitled any benefits from these.
SO why do we have to pay for these?
Local labour laws in california do include unemploymnt benefits. It is true that Foreign consulates are exempt!!
The question is why was an employee working for 9 years at the consulate fired?
What were the reasons? If she did performed her job well enough for 9 years what happened?
This contract not renewed is like getting fired. Unless there were some MAJOR professional mistakes from Mrs. Pierre, there should be more reasons than a personal problem with her superior. This is absolutely not a good enough reason. I am a French American living in Los Angeles and I am really worried how this consulate is run. It sounds like bad management.
the question is what can we do to change things?
Most of us think positive but we're traped
It looks like we need some good advice from someone...a lawyer?
For the record, not all local hires at the Embassy have 8 weeks of vacation. In Washington DC, many of us have five weeks, as stipulated in our contracts. However, we work alongside and for other Embassy personnel who do have 8 weeks.
For anyone who doesn't understand why you get fired after 9 years of loyal services:
You need to understand the French cultural professionnal system.
Have you heard of the middle age ?
well that is the way it still goes.
especially in the ministere des affaires etrangeres. you are dealing with ambassadors, consuls who have so many maids, so much money and are used to live in third world countries where people are begging to give them a blow job for a job.. ironic I know.
so like a spoiled brat who doesn't like his toy anymore, throws it around, breaks it, damages it .... that is what they do with us. local recruits and themselves which is why they all become alcoholics, lunatics, manic depressive and end up working there last nerv on the first person they ran into at the consulate.
I know the case of laurence pierre by heart. She was fired because of racial, sexual discrimination. And sinc when you are a civil servant in France you CAN'T EVER get fired, but you are bored to death, since you can't work and don't know how, you take it out on the ones that can be fired. it makes their day.
Do you know how much a consul in L.A. makes per month :
25 000 euros + maidS + cook + Maitre D, + car + chauffeur (all these are extras) + 1200 euros per child... and those guys are the old french way family kind : minimum 4 to 5 kids.
+ an extra salary for the wife who can't work
And who pays for that ?
French workers in France who if they knew would be finding another reason to go on strike for weeks... and the local recruits who on a 3000 dollar paycheck pay 600 dollars per month to the french government for social security, medicare etc... that they never get to benefit from.
5 weeks vacation is what they try to get you with when they hire you.
they forget : harrassment, discrimation, retaliation....
The middle age was probably less stressfull to live in.
The french are competing with China's human rights.
L.A. is a dump for the following :
(nothing to do in L.A. besides get suntan and drunk)
1 a consul who "worked" hard in a difficult country (like a country at war) and needs 3 to 4 years of rest
2 a consul or a person from another ministere that is in their way, political way, and they don't know where the F. to put him (since they pay him to stay home until they find a spot)
ie : David Martinon who is in Sarko's way...
Wake up and smell the coffee...
All this is a farce.
Louis XIV and his servants that is all it is.
by the way a consulate is nothing more than a mix between city hall + civic center + little bit of dmv.
it has no diplomatic immunity. I have verified that.
France is the number 1 country in Europe for discrimination and harrassment on the work place and number 1 for suicides on the work place and number 1 for the use of antidepressants due to work mistreatments....
So, a consulate where everything is done half ass, thousands of miles away from the King... who gives a damn !
remember, we are hired with a french contract written by a french employer but whenever the wind goes east or west... we are suddenly under american laws.
I wouldn't even know where to begin to start a best seller.
one day, one light...
Actually this is right, Romain Gary was for 20 years the consul in LA as De Gaule hated him....
this is what happens in the consulate here.
I hope that madame Pierre gets a better job in an american company.
Injustice happens unfortunaly everywhere,but as a french americain, this does not make me too proud of my country.
Cannot wait for this useless consul to cash his check for his useless job somwhere else....
Bon voyage!
And finally, I hope that Mrs Pierre supervisor who got her fired....well I do not wish him the best!but anyone who hate mothers is anyways a poor lost soul.
And unfortunately same BS continue at the french consulate in LA, injustice, racism, I don't know where such anger is coming from? Why can't we in peace like it was before? THose new bosses who came from Paris those last 3&4 years did bring such hate, misunderstanding, injustice, discrimination in this consulate!!!! YOu can feel the negative feelings as soon as you enter there!!
Just to confirm the comments above, this is what going on at te French Consulate in LA:
- L. Pierre got fired because her supervisor Martinet doesn't like women with children, particulary single mothers, I wonder who did carry him for 9 months?? Ok he's gay but it's not a reason to be mean, his predecessor Gusting, a desperate alcoholic did prepare very well her file with the supervisor Lopez (another angry woman) before leaving for Pakistan her new job Everybody know that at the CG in LA, unfortunately what can the local do in front of an injustice like that, just take it and wait for ...karma...one day..
- Talking about Lopez, the Chef de Chancellerie, since her arrival 2 yrs ago, 1 rule: divide and reign! after firing L.Pierre, she send to the Visa dpt a local agent who did send a letter to Washington about her way to talk to people, OOOOOOH BIG MISTAKE! They decided to send the agent there as punishment so she'll quit...She is soooo mean, pushing poor local agent, making them fight btw agents for nothing, sending letters to the CG just to build bad reports as soon as someone does a mistake, comes late for 5mn, call sick, anyway make the atmosphere soo bad, that people jump when she got sick ..Scarry, huh...She's now preparing the arrival of the new CG Martinon, making life of Tilliette, the CG Adjoint miserable, what we call the panier à crabes, nice fight that the local watch every day with pleasure, at least she turned her claws onto him, another dangerous man who accepts all, from her and from the CG, making him nervous, sad, older and of course who's going to pay? Local people...Again. We'll talk about Tilliette later... So Lopez will send everything and everytbody to Tilliette, because she doesn't want to officially take decision, she doesn' want to be exposed...BUT she'll do worst than that on your back, with a nice smile, door closed.. Cold war with cold people..Oh we hear she did her best to request another yr in LA oh gosh !!!! And makes the old Titi, as she called him, willing to leave next yr..This one he cannot take it no more, good for him anyway.. Poor local agent..
- So Titi, oh this one too, so nice at the beginning but soooo cruel, worst than Lopez who at least does her things with anger but at the end of the day that you'll never expect something good from her..Him, a cobra!!! You'll think with his old age you could trust him...Be careful, he's worst, and deserves what's going on right now, everything is on his shoulders, with a total disrespect from Lopez and CG Larrieu who doesn't care at all, since he knows his departure is close (AUG 15). Afraid of taking decision, afraid of agents who have BRAS LONGS( good recommandations from a VIP in France at the Ministere...attention pas touche!!!!!!), he takes 1 week to make a decision and at the end, he'll take the wrong one. He's the one choosen to fire people, to give warnings, to punish, meanwhile the others, Lopez and CG Larrieu smile at us....For example, when a BRAS LONGS, said to a local agent some racism words a few months ago (yes dear readers !!!!!!! right here at the consulate, the only black woman got insulted louder (GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY, BITCH!!)by another agent BRAS LONGS whom husband is also ...black....lol...ridiculous...), so when this happen, Titi said he didn't hear the words, while he was RIGHT THERE, trying to calm them, everybody could hear those 2 women early morning shouting ..before doors open. Later on, he totally avoid to talk about it...Such a pity...Now he always have doors closed, to avoid complains of agents or visit from the terrible Lopez..
- Agents from Paris ar soooo superior from the local ones that they don't eat at the same table, they can take longer lunch break, go to smoke or discuss very often, as long as they want, decide to not show up at work...And so and so....I can go like that for pages and pages I'll not have enough room to describe the injustice and discrimination here and of course, local cannot say or do anyhting...Oh I hear that now the locals decided to be SYNDIQUES, finally something !!! At least they'll have voices to defend their cause, may be...
- I don't know who was talking about the " nice " new office, yes you can name it the GALLERY, with the expensive painting on the walls, but with broken elevators, cheap electrical system, every day complainst to the building for repairs concerning the air, the toilets, the doors, not enought parking space for visitors, very bad emergency and security system, ..Old building bigger than KB Home yes..., where is the money left due to cheaper rent? The local were beging when we moved (till now) for furniture they promissed to buy. Brand new ones were delivered to the agents from Paris, some local are still waiting for that, and oooh my gosh , what a big deal when you want supplies like pencils, glue etc..
- I even don't talk about the CG who's ashame of his staff, never inviting them at the residence, prefering have chip and cheap drinks at the cafeteria to thank an agent leaving for good...He also invites his guest at his office, for lunch at his table, we hear that the wife doesn't want people to come at ..THEIR house...You don't want to know abut the parties where they all got drunks and crazy, at the Residence with friends, or some other ...girls private parties...with champagne à gogo all night!!!
- You need to just come and sit down and watch for 1 hour the Consulate, you 'll see who is really working and of course making less money, who's not working traveling from office to office or on the phone to discuss personal matters, or going to smoke every 20mn with Lopez, and of course making more money...You'll undersatand right away what's going on there..
Conclusion:
Morlet, the supervisor of the film dpt, direted his 1st movie a few days ago, I'll advice him to do a movie about the Consulate in LA, he will win an Oscar, and we'll go to Cannes. It'll be a movie no comments, just the images can say the all thing........
WAOW !!!!!!!!!!!! Eh ben mes aieux !!!!! Quelle affaire ce consulat de LA , j'en ai HONTE d'etre citoyenne française, vraiment !!!!!!!! Le pire c'est qu'après VERIFICATION tout ce qu cette personne mentionne dans ce long message EST LA TRISTE REALITE !!! Et après cela qu'on ne s'étonne pas d'etre mal vus pas le public...///I feel ashame to be calle d french citizen after reading all this comment above ...tThe worst is that after verifying the facts, unfortunately every such sentence is true. How can we be surprised when people don't like us and criticize us as consular agents, tell me ???
France is a lovely country with a rich culture but for some reason the people are so often mean, vain and selfish that they are loathed and despised worldwide (I just came back from the Dominican Republic where the locals consider French tourists the worst in terms of politeness, generosity, and hygeine). The curator of this blog Mr Goldhammer denies the French are any worse than any other group of people. Yet in his daily posts we see constant stories of French vanity, duplicity, criminality, and egotistical meddling in international affairs. On a personal level, I've noticed the French tendency to constant verbal sparring, quarrelling, hurtful teasing, snide remarks, criticisms, jealousy, pessimism and negativity. Studies and polls regularly show the French are generally miserable, pessimistic and gloomy.
The French should be content with their many blessings but they seem to labour under some existential curse where they poison and gall everything they touch. Their history shows this repeatedly: witness their regimes of racist and religious intolerance glorifying selfish privilege, which are then overthrown by spasms of popular vengeance like the Revolution and the Commune. As Taine noted, these political changes never seem to bring about social improvements because the people's attitudes, mentality, and temperament remain the same. The study of France is instructive as a cautionary tale of civilized individuals and society in a fallen state (cf. Milton).
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