On the bridge that spans the railway line and gives access to the chemical platform, they installed a tent, tables, flags and water collectors as obstacles to prevent the passage of vehicles. With a written message: “Salindres, Solvay killed me. »
For more than ten days, employees at Solvay, a factory specializing in fluorine chemistry, which produces trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) for the manufacture of pesticides and medicines, have been on a renewable strike. They are protesting against the closure of the site announced for 2025 and the elimination of 68 jobs.
About twenty employees, who work in the GIE subsidiary (a structure that processes waste from all the factories of the chemical plant, also owned by Solvay), will remain active. On Saturday morning, October 5, they were joined by more than 300 residents who had come with their families from neighboring towns to participate in a march. Because the announcement, which came suddenly on September 24, caused confusion throughout the labor sector.
Eternal pollutants
A first wave of departures could take place as early as January. “Nobody expected this from a company that pays 400,000 euros a year to its shareholders”explains Damien Olry, union representative of the CGT, who does not believe in the economic argument put forward by the management: “They are closing to avoid an avalanche of scandals. » Enzo Ferroudji, another employee, “disgusted and angry”wants “beat until the end”. In this factory the average age is 43 years. “Many of us have mortgages. Some have to return 1,200 euros a month. We have families, responsibilities. »
Salindres, a town of 3,700 inhabitants located north of the Gard, in the former Alesia mining basin, was built around this large industrial platform, which appeared 169 years ago. “We know that one job in chemistry means four indirect jobs. The death of Solvay is the death of Haute Gard”estimates Jean-Louis Peyren, secretary of the FNIC-CGT. In this part of the department strongly marked by the history of mines, the inhabitants have observed one closure after another for more than twenty years: Jallatte, Richard Ducros, Péchiney, Alcatel, Crouzey.
But Salindres is also an area of extraordinary contamination with eternal pollutants, as revealed in February. The world. With an exceptional concentration and never before detected in the soils of this sector. Cause? Great doubts weigh on Solvay’s activity. “99.99% of the substances found in the surrounding waters are manufactured by Solvay, in particular TFA and triflic acid”declared members of Générations Futures when the results were announced.
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