A few days after the announcement of the closure of the Michelin factories in Vannes (Morbihan) and Cholet (Maine and Loire), several hundred employees demonstrated on Friday, November 8. In the place of Cholet where he had gone “stay in touch and support employees who are experiencing a human tragedy”The Minister of Industry, Marc Ferracci, was verbally attacked by employees in trouble, reported journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Mr. Ferracci remained “three minutes” in front of the factory, according to the unionists, leaving the place shortly before 1:00 p.m. after a tense exchange. “I deeply regret it” the decision to close the Cholet and Vannes centers “How sorry I am for the way it was announced to the employees”the minister had said shortly before, after leaving a steering committee in the subprefecture with union representatives and local elected officials.
More than 1,250 jobs in total are at risk by 2026. “I am glad that politicians are finally seeing the true face of Michelin; “They fell off their chairs when they found out about the brutality.” of this announcement, Romain Denecheau, elected CFDT of the Michelin factory in Cholet who participated in this meeting, told an AFP correspondent. After the Minister’s departure, several hundred employees marched through the Cholet industrial zone shouting: “Fifty years to wear ourselves out, five minutes to say goodbye”, EITHER : “Bibendum is beautiful, always money before men. »
From early in the morning, tires were burned in front of the Michelin site, with banners or inscriptions on the walls evoking the “broken lives” and the “years of hard work to be wasted”. “Thank you for a great Christmas”joked the approximately 900 “Children of Michelin” in Cholet, receiving numerous samples of encouragement from passersby.
A commission of inquiry requested from the National Assembly
The Macronist deputy for Cholet, Denis Masséglia, himself insulted on Friday by some angry employees, said he understood these “people who expressed their suffering” attacking the Minister of Industry. “The State must support them but Michelin must assume its responsibilities”said. “The government requested commitments from Michelin”stressed Marc Ferracci, insisting on “decent compensation, with substantial amounts” and priority reclassifications in Cholet’s workplace.
“No, Mr. Ferracci, we are not here to fight for a check, we are here to fight for jobs”launched the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, who met in the morning with the employees of the Vannes plant, where some 300 jobs are also at stake. In Vannes, employees demonstrated at 6:30 a.m. to demand that jobs be maintained in France, before planting white crosses symbolizing the expected death of their factory. A meeting was also organized in Clermont-Ferrand, where the corporate headquarters is located.
“Our emblematic companies like Michelin no longer care about France, since Michelin, out of 130,000 jobs, only has 15,000 left in France”M lamented.me Binet, criticizing “Emmanuel Macron’s industrial policy [qui] “It aligns with the interests of these multinationals”. “We are facing a new wall” due to public policies that have failed to get manufacturers to choose their employees instead of “the choice of benefit”added the environmentalist deputy Clémentine Autain (ex-LFI).
In the National Assembly, environmentalist deputies and “rebels” called for the creation of a commission of inquiry into the use of public funds by Michelin, in particular to “Understand why it is possible to combine massive layoffs, public aid benefits and record payments to shareholders during the same period”. Marc Ferracci said the government would publish “In the coming weeks an emergency plan will be drawn up for the automobile industry on a French and European level”For “act structurally”. The plan will include measures to support demand and investment, and “trade protection measures that affect the entire sector.”
