They arrived from Baghlan, a town 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 of Stellantis factory, in Sochaux (Doubs). It was not their job; they were both in business. Here they are now experienced in “body wrapping”, on a site which releases a car every sixty seconds: Peugeot 3008 or 5008, electric, hybrid or rechargeable hybrid at more than 40,000 euros. We have to keep up the pace.
In this factory, which employs 6,000 people, including a thousand temporary workers, they are not the only refugees. Their journey is not even atypical. “We have fifty-eight nationalities”indicates Séverine Brisson, employment manager. Two years ago, in September 2022, while showing the press this completely reorganized site to be compact and more efficient, a manager reported the new presence on the line of Ukrainian refugees, “with even a couple of lawyers”.
On September 13, 2023, while Linda Jackson, boss of the Peugeot brand, revealed the new 3008 to car rental companies (Avis, Hertz, Europcar, etc.), young Syrians posed all smiles for the photographer of the Monde. One year later, on October 3, Elsa Pattarozzi, head of the training workshop, presented to the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, and to the Minister Delegate for Industry, Marc Ferracci, a thirty-year-old Turkish woman, living for nine years in Montbéliard (Doubs), but also a young person recruited in a priority district of the city and an Afghan refugee. The MP (National Rally) for Doubs Géraldine Grangier, present during the visit, remained unfazed. “Without immigration, we don’t know how to do in the industry”noted the minister ten days later on France Inter, when he was questioned about a possible new law on immigration.
Read the report (September 2023): Article reserved for our subscribers At Peugeot, in Sochaux, new model and low morale
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Once trained, they will be able to join the new night shift. It begins its activity Monday November 4. Peugeot 3008 sales are off to a good start: 75,000 orders, a quarter of which are electric, have already been recorded.
Nine temporary employment companies, selected by Stellantis, have launched the recruitment of 450 workers (half of a day shift). Refugees are welcome. In the factory, half of the temporary workers are foreigners.
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