"Some are in real danger of dying": Agents at the town hall of Saint-Raphaël and the surrounding area break the silence and speak out

"No, no, nothing has changed..." The famous refrain of the Poppys seems to sadly reflect what some of the 1,300 employees of the City of Saint-Raphaël and the Estérel Côte d'Azur conurbation, two communities led by Frédéric Masquelier (LR), are feeling: suffering at work.

Here, many hoped that the revelations of the Canard enchaîné , last November, would make more progress. It mentioned the opening of a preliminary investigation, after two reports to the Draguignan prosecutor pointing to cases of "severe professional exhaustion complicated by a major depressive episode with explicit suicidal risk and intentionality of acting out."

Dr. Vincent Fabri, the source of these alerts, has now agreed to testify to help "free speech." Especially since, although several complaints have been filed in the meantime, "the situation has not changed," according to him.

"It's even worse than before," he laments. "The health of my patients is still in danger. Some are in real danger of dying. Several staff have developed depression, burnout, are having nightmares, and are undereating. " His goal? "To prevent a wave of suicides like at France Telecom."

At the time the affair broke, the mayor of Saint-Raphaël seemed to have discovered the problem (our editions of November 23, 2024 ) . However, the FO union of his commune had already warned him in writing on October 22 of "a type of dysfunction which contributes to the ambient malaise and the growing anger of the city's agents."

Meanwhile, one of the people we spoke to claims to have directly informed the mayor, as well as the occupational health department, of the pain associated with carrying out his duties. He added that his case was not an isolated one.

"I lived two years in hell"

"If anyone ever finds out that it's me talking to you, I'm dead," confides Marylou (1), another officer on sick leave, for whom "the skills of some are less important than the relationships of others with the mayor."

Her story? "A creeping exclusion" that made her "hit rock bottom . " "I didn't want to leave my house anymore, even to walk my dog, for fear of running into Masquelier and company," she continues.

Having arrived at the Saint-Raphaël town hall less than ten years ago, this executive assistant hasn't counted her hours. The final straw? The day her superior asks her to "scrub the floor with steel wool."

She was arrested for the first time. Back at work, Marylou found herself in a "ghost job." "They put me in a closet, without a computer, without a pen. With nothing, " she complains. " I lived in hell for two years. Everything is set up to keep us apart. The only solution they offered me was a multi-tasking job: half-cleaning agent, half-receptionist. It was so demeaning."

Back on sick leave, she is now being seen by a psychologist: "Resign? How can you look for work in that state?"

Pressures and depressions

For his part, Alphonse (1) recently filed a complaint for harassment. An agent at one of the city's waste disposal sites, his management wanted to transfer him to another department, unrelated to his experience.

" They then put pressure on me to sign a mutual termination agreement ," he reports. "Which I refused. I'm considered the ugly duckling, but I don't enjoy being on sick leave. Every day, I lose money..."

This is also the case of Bérangère (1), who spent around twenty years in the civil service. Returning from her first sick leave following an operation, she saw one of her missions taken away, with a reduction in pay, "without justification and without any real communication."

" All this because I supported someone they fired ," she says. "They felt I was no longer loyal. Even though I always did the job." This was followed by "loss of sleep," "pretty serious high blood pressure problems," and "crying in the office."

Until another stoppage, this time for suffering at work, which has been ongoing for several weeks. Return? " If I do this, they'll come after me, destroy me, " she fears.

Like other officers who wake up with "a knot in their stomach" , Bérangère gave her testimony to the investigation conducted by the Toulon police.

"Saying nothing would have been endorsing a system," she explains. "But if it gets out, my career is over. Frédéric Masquelier is creating a climate of terror. He's the one giving the instructions. If you're not close to his little circle, you'll get hurt . As the municipal elections approach, he's becoming more and more paranoid. I'm even physically scared."

1. First names have been changed.