Telecoms firm hit by another suicide

A FATHER-OF FOUR working for France Telecom-Orange died after setting himself on fire at work, management and unions said, the latest in a series of suicides at the company.

The 57-year-old set himself alight in a car park at France Telecom premises near Bordeaux in southwestern France.

“The whole staff is completely overwhelmed with emotion,” said trade union representative Sebastien Crozier, his voice trembling. “All of Bordeaux is in tears.”

“It’s a tragedy,” said CFDT union representative Pierre Dubois. He said the man was “a local guy” and committed suicide on arriving at work.

A management source said: “We are stunned to learn of the death of an employee... who ended his life by setting himself alight this morning in the car park of the branch in Merignac.”

More than 30 reported suicides in 2008 and 2009 sparked alarm at the company, which operates France’s national telephone service, employs 100,000 people and runs the major mobile provider Orange.

A union mission to monitor stress at work said there were 27 suicides in the company in 2010 and one other so far in 2011.

The deaths, which included several dramatic suicides at the workplace, have prompted questions about stress, management and the company’s programme of job cuts, which began in 2004.

The man who died yesterday was a married father-of-four and a member of the CFDT union who monitored working conditions and health and safety, several union sources said. He was not named.

A local official of the CFE-CGC/Unsa union, Francois Deschamps, said the man had been with the company for 30 years and had suffered recently from being moved repeatedly from one post to another.

He said employees suffered major disruption from the shake-up.