In thirty-four years of activism, François Hommeril has repeatedly said that it is necessary to look after the fate of people who are victims of economic dismissal. But the president of the CFE-CGC, the executives union, had never personally had such an experience. Now you can testify: being removed from a company’s workforce is a shock “incredibly violent”According to him, although he is not worried about the future. In bankruptcy, the company Niche Fused Alumina, where he until now worked, has just been acquired by an industrialist, who retains 119 employees out of 173. Mr. Hommeril is in the “car” of those who lose their jobs. A situation probably unprecedented for the head of a confederation that defends workers.
An engineer by training, Mr. Hommeril began his professional life in 1989 in Pechiney, in Gardanne (Bouches-du-Rhône). Nine years later, the French group moved it to La Bâthie (Savoy) within another unit that manufactures white corundum, an aluminum oxide used in products for laminated parquet, aerospace, automobiles, etc. With his wife and five children he put down roots in this city of about 2,000 inhabitants and joined, one thing after another, “the factory” : “I am very linked to her, to her destiny”explains.
At the company, he managed to increase his union’s audience and at the same time maintained good relations with his colleagues at the CGT, the site’s number one organization. He even makes a joint list with them in the professional elections. An unexpected complicity, which is due, in part, to his personality: Mr. Hommeril does not hesitate to challenge the hierarchy and his sense of the devastating formula seduces.
General mobilization
Year after year he witnessed the dismantling of Pechiney. The former French aluminum champion went through the colors of Alcan and then Rio Tinto, before experiencing many other vicissitudes. The unionist fights by bringing the voice of his organization to the level of the group’s European bodies. Elected in 2016 at the head of the CFE-CGC, he continues to be part of the La Bâthie factory teams, with the mandate of delegate. Although he hardly works there anymore, his compensation is paid by Niche Fused Alumina, the new owner, and he returns regularly, for example during annual salary negotiations or during the 2020 health crisis.
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