after 63 days of mobilization, a “bitter-tasting victory” for employees

After more than two months of strike, employees of Vencorex, a chemical factory in Pont-de-Claix (Isère) placed in receivership, signed a protocol ending the conflict with their management, this Tuesday, December 24. Still threatened by layoffs, employees report a victory that is difficult to accept.

The picket installed in front of the Vencorex portico will disappear at the start of the school year. After 63 days of mobilization, the three unions (CGT, CFDT, CFE-CGC) of the chemical factory, located in Pont-de-Claix (Isère), signed an end-of-conflict protocol with management.

Employees will return to work in January, the platform will be unblocked and the valve on the Transalp ethylene pipeline, blocked for almost two months, will be reopened. In exchange, the employees, still threatened by a job protection plan (PSE), obtained numerous guarantees from their management, including compensation of 40,000 euros per person and maintenance of salaries for 12 months .

For Philippe Gaude, manufacturing technician and CGT union representative, this is little consolation: “There is this bitter taste of saying to ourselves that we are going to lose our job, despite signing compensation. But these are trivial things. Because, for the most part, we are still young. We will have to return to the walk and fight to find a job that corresponds to our lifestyle. Today, we had a certain salary, it is not certain that we will be able to find the same one.

“It’s complicated to say that it’s a victory, we lose our jobs. But we were prepared for this to be the outcome. We had to organize the employees’ exit”he continues.

Tags France