13 days ago, the announcement of the cessation of production caused a deep shock within the town of Salindres in Gard. Employees but also elected officials and residents marched this Saturday morning from the factory to the town hall, to express their anger.
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Of “disgust”of the “anger” and of “uncertainty”. This Saturday, October 5, employees are still up in arms against the closure of the Solvay factory in Salindres in Gard. Several hundred people walked this morning from the factory to the town hall.
Elected officials and residents also joined this march to express their support. Support which comes in the context of negotiations for a job protection plan (PSE).
The unexpected announcement of the cessation of production and the elimination of 68 positions by October 2025 was experienced as an immense shock. For more than a century, the factory has been an integral part of the landscape and the lives of the inhabitants, as we tell you in this article. “Dad used to work there, so it’s not something recent since it would be over 100 years old. Well, there, it’s a despair all the same for the Salindrois and especially for the people who will no longer have a job“confides a resident.
In this Gard village, everyone is directly or indirectly affected. The closure of the factory has repercussions that go far beyond just the employees. “It’s important for village life, for the school and for the traders.”, deplores another resident.
The closure of the Salindres factory takes place in a context of tension around environmental issues. At the start of the year, a report from the Générations Futures association had pointed to “exceptionally high” concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the waters near the site. But for local authorities, this closure is above all a social tragedy.
Solvay, for its part, justifies this decision for economic reasons. The Belgian group specializing in chemicals explains that the diversification efforts and investments made on the site were not enough to compensate for the drop in activity. The closure of the production of TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) and fluorinated derivatives in Salindres therefore appears, according to management, to be inevitable.
