They arrived from Baghlan, a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants north of Kabul, in September 2021. The two Mamozai brothers, Abdelrahman (25 years old) and Bilal (22 years old), now work on the assembly line at the Stellantis factory, in Sochaux (Doubs). It wasn’t his job; They were both in business. Here they already have experience in “body wrapping”, in a site that launches a car every sixty seconds: Peugeot 3008 or 5008, electric, hybrid or rechargeable hybrid at more than 40,000 euros. We have to keep the pace.
In this factory, which employs 6,000 people, including a thousand temporary workers, they are not the only refugees. His journey is not even atypical. “We have fifty-eight nationalities”says Séverine Brisson, head of employment. Two years ago, in September 2022, while showing the press this completely reorganized site to be more compact and more efficient, an official reported the new presence in the line of Ukrainian refugees. “even with a couple of lawyers”.
On September 13, 2023, while Linda Jackson, head of the Peugeot brand, presented the new 3008 to car rental companies (Avis, Hertz, Europcar, etc.), young Syrians posed smiling for the photographer of the World. A year later, on October 3, Elsa Pattarozzi, head of the training workshop, presented to the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, and the Delegate Minister of Industry, Marc Ferracci, a thirty-year-old Turkish woman who has lived in Montbéliard (Doubs) for nine years, but also a young man recruited in a priority neighborhood of the city and an Afghan refugee. . The national deputy of Doubs, Géraldine Grangier, present during the visit, remained unperturbed. “Without immigration, we don’t know how the industry is doing”the minister noted ten days later on France Inter, when he was questioned about a possible new law on immigration.
Once trained, they will be able to join the new night shift. It begins its activity on Monday, November 4. Sales of the Peugeot 3008 have started on the right foot: 75,000 orders have already been registered, of which a quarter are electric.
Nine temporary employment companies, selected by Stellantis, have launched the hiring of 450 workers (half-day). Refugees are welcome. In the factory, half of the temporary workers are foreigners.
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