We remember vividly the last federal committee meeting with her. As usual, she came prepared to present a problem that she is determined to make people aware of it, and administration to take care of it. It is about the administration that neglects the side effects of audio technology which has an impact on our hearing health, especially for our interpreters. The administration was responsible for managing the situation !

It is just one of many causes that Marie-Odile is determined to fight for to get the institutions to react and take all the necessary measures to prevent further damage to our working capacity.

Marie Odile was a lively, sharp, and bright colleague who was very passionate about defending whatever cases she handled. We were (and still are) lucky to have her in our trade union. At the last federal meeting in June 2024, she was still there, smiling brightly,  eager to propose another cause that needed to be defended.

There are no words that can describe our grief at the news that Marie-Odile passed away. It was not only devastating for each of us individually, but it came as a shock to our organisation as Marie Odile is one of our core committee members.  Marie-Odile had been part of our team at Union Syndicale Bruxelles for several years. Her dedication and unfailing professionalism left their mark on our day-to-day work. We will deeply miss her presence and good humor. Marie-Odile leaves a huge void in our Union Syndicale.

Rest in peace, dear Marie Odile.

 

Below is a homage written by our colleague, Olivier Le Dour during Marie-Odile’s funeral.

—

Originally written in French:

We have lost a brilliant comrade, a good person, someone precious.

What often struck me about Marie-Odile was her empathy. You came to her with a problem, and it became her problem. You were no longer alone, you had an ally ready to deploy her resources and mobilize her knowledge – and it was not a small amount – her great skills, to put them at the service of her new cause. And we already felt a little better.

She was not guided by personal interests, by ambitions to lead, by vanity, by the desire to shine, to promote herself, to take all the credit, but by the will to do the right thing, to do the right thing.

Her long career had not made her jaded or cynical but had kept her sense of justice and injustice intact.

And if she was convinced that a colleague, or a group of colleagues, were being treated unfairly, that the boss was being unjust or was doing something stupid, then she would mobilize and fight back. She was not afraid to stand up, almost single-handedly, against the administration, like a little Antigone. Marie-Odile was incredibly determined.

And sometimes, she won.

I remember her satisfaction, her candid pride, when she had succeeded in her move, or how she would prepare her next move, mischievously, like a chess player. To be a few moves ahead, to see the dominoes fall. “If they do this, we’ll do that.”

“We”, not ‘I’, because she had this collective dimension. At work and in life. She used to tell me how much she had learned from coaching a sports team. She lived for others.

But her life was not all fighting, she simply knew how to be a great colleague to talk to. She also knew how to find solutions that worked for everyone, without resorting to conflict.

Marie-Odile also knew how to have doubts; she was not convinced that she had the truth. I remember her long calls at the end of the day, when she needed to ask for advice, to assess an idea, to reassure herself about the course of action she thought she was taking, to build an opinion by confronting her vision with the viewpoints of others.

Finally, she knew not to lose sight of the good side of people, to show great patience towards… our big flaws, our big weaknesses.

You can rest easy, and however much your modesty may suffer, Marie-Odile, your friends, colleagues and comrades will long remember you, your kindness and your smile.

 

Olivier Le Dour