The general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, deplored on Monday on France 2 that she had been put under examination after the proposal on “the trade union repression that is taking place at Tefal”, in the framework of a legal action confirmed by the company.
“I learned on Friday that I was put to the test following the fact that I denounced the trade union repression that is taking place at Tefal”, explained Sophie Binet.
This follows “a complaint and defamation of the company Tefal against the proposals of Sophie Binet: “the CGT of Tefal is facing violent employer repression” held during a debate at the Humanity Day in September 2025″, the CGT said in a press release.
The mise en examen is almost automatic in the case of a complaint for defamation.
Solicité, Tefal confirmed “having initiated a judicial procedure against Mrs. Binet and her co-authors”.
“This procedure concerns serious and erroneous public accusations against the company, which Tefal strongly contests,” the company said, stating that the investigation “was notified to him on March 12.”
Sophie Binet explained that “the CGT has been alerting since last month about the dangerousness of PFAS, a chemical component that is used for Tefal stoves”.
The CGT coordinator of the SEB group (owner of the Tefal brand) and member of the confederal management of the CGT has been sanctioned internally by the group for having requested details on these components, a sanction that she will contest on June 4 at the labor union, according to the CGT.
For Sophie Binet, Tefal “is trying to stifle trade unionists who express their views on working conditions or the environmental impact of production”.
Tefal, for his part, affirms that “it is not about putting trade union freedom, the right to critique or public debate” but estimates that “freedom of expression does not allow the imputation of inaccurate facts to an enterprise”.
“Tefal refutes any accusation of trade union repression”, adds the company.
The CGT, considering the propositions for which Sophie Binet is prosecuted to be “innocuous”, affirms that “on this basis, virtually all of the country’s trade unionists could be prosecuted”.
The leader of the CGT called on the parliamentarians and the government “to finally put on the carpet a law to protect freedom of expression and trade union freedom which today is in danger”.
Sophie Binet had already been put on trial in December for “public insult” after having called in January on the radio the patrons of “rats who quit the ship” of which “the only objective is the bait of gain”.
Source: Lequotidien
