This article was written by activists of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France. We will publish a follow-up after the postal workers’ trial scheduled for June 12.
Five postal workers from the Hauts-de-Seine department (a region in the Paris suburbs) are set to stand trial on June 12, 2025, charged with “trespassing,” “assault” and “property damage” related to strike actions dating back to 2014.
Among them are Gaël Quirante, secretary of the SUD Poste Hauts-de-Seine union, and Yann Le Merrer, a member of the federal Bureau of the SUD-PTT union (which represents workers in the postal and telecommunications sectors).
Repression doesn’t strike randomly.
This trial targets two militants who have two things in common: they continued their militant activity among postal workers despite being fired for their union activities, and they are both members of the NPA-Révolutionnaires (New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries).
Yann Le Merrer is the first civil servant to be dismissed from the civil service for union activity since the 1950s. The reason: having spoken out during the 2014 strike, which from the company’s point of view constituted a “disruption of activity” and “disobedience” to the state. He has since been hired by his union, SUD-PTT.
Gaël Quirante was fired in 2018 after a prolonged legal battle that began in 2010. His firing was initially blocked by the labor inspectorate and deemed discriminatory by the Ministry of Labor’s office. But the Minister of Labor at the time overruled these findings and authorized his dismissal. This triggered a historic 15-month strike, which won Gaël’s right to continue intervening as a union delegate in postal centers, and halted restructuring efforts across most post offices in the Hauts-de-Seine for several years.
The real reason for Gaël and Yann’s prosecution lies in the fact that, despite their dismissal, they continue to advocate for postal workers, directly challenging the power of management.
Gaël has already faced two separate criminal trials in 2022 and 2023, which he was accused of “assault” and even “violent theft.”
