Vélib': pressure before the high court's ruling?

On the eve of a decision that the High Court of Nanterre is expected to hand down regarding the future of Vélib’s employees, two news articles feature the following comments from JCDecaux:
 
Vélib's employee representatives are asking the judge to transfer their labour contract ipso jure by virtue of Article L1224-1 of the Labour Code.
 
In a major evening newspaper, the new operator's chairman asserted peremptorily that Article L1224-1 does not apply and poses an ultimatum to employees - although this interpretation is solely for the judge to decide.
 
However, nothing should be able to prevent Vélib's 267 employees, who are trained, experienced and motivated, from continuing their activity in service of Vélib's users, while the new operator has announced its plan for more than 300 new hires. Their experience is an unparalleled added value for the new operator. 
 
Concurrently, a major economic daily newspaper is publishing an article entitled "Vélib', la fin d'un cycle" [Vélib', the end of a cycle], pretending it is an investigation, although JCDecaux has never been contacted to confirm or deny the data the paper is peddling.
 
This article is based on an accusatory report drafted in 2015. Its authors never summoned JCDecaux for a hearing. JCDecaux was not even given the benefit of the usual adversary proceedings, contrary to practices and regulations.
 
Hence the 80 gross errors on 65 pages of this report, which therefore has no value for assessing the quality or relevance of the service provided by Vélib'. Furthermore, the leak to the press in the middle of Vélib's call for tender is questionable.
 
Among the report's false assertions, errors, and defamations used in this article, we cite the following: 
 

• The accusation of the current system's lack of transparency: The City of Paris is co-owner of all data on Vélib'. It has all of the data-analysis tools and daily performance trackers for carefully evaluating the service's quality using an extensive amount of quantitative indicators, supplemented by field audits conducted by its agents every week. Thus both technical and economic transparency is absolute, thanks to the financial statements regularly submitted to the City of Paris and certified by the Statutory Auditors.

 

• The accusation of a deal at the City's expense: The Vélib' contract has never cost the City of Paris a cent. The City has always been the beneficiary, thanks to funding from advertisers and user payments related to Vélib's success. To list just the past three fiscal years, the contract brought in €4.1m for the City in 2014, €5.5m in 2015, and €4.3m in 2016.

On the contrary, the article does not cite a single statement of fact demonstrating Vélib's remarkable performance. Yet these are plentiful and public, with nearly 300,000 subscribers, more than 341 million rides taken since 2007, a record satisfaction rate for 91% of users, and being elected Client Service of the Year three years in a row by the Client Relations Centre.
 
Beyond the orchestration of this media campaign, JCDecaux reiterates the globally recognised success of Vélib', built over a 10-year period with the City of Paris and accomplished thanks to its teams, who deserve to continue their commitment to serving its users over the long term.