The standoff is only just beginning between the management of Carambar & Co and the Poulain staff representatives. To support their representatives in this fight, the employees decided to take over this Tuesday, the room where the extraordinary social and economic committee (CSE) opened at the Villebarou factory. “As the management did not want to confront us this morning when we arrived, we went to meet them at the time when the CSE opened, explain employees. We stayed for five minutes, just to mark the occasion. »
“Disagree with management figures”
After a first round quickly dispatched on June 13 for procedural defects, management brought together the social partners again this Tuesday, June 25 to initiate the information procedure concerning the proposed closure of the Poulain site. At the lunch break, only one item out of the six on the agenda had been discussed. “We are combing through all of Book II on the economic aspect. It takes a lot of time, says Cédric Tournois, CFDT Poulain central union delegate. We often stop to reframe our positions. We don’t agree with management’s numbers. This closure project has no reason to exist. »
Cédric Tournois, CFDT Poulain central union delegate, took advantage of the suspension of the CSE to provide an update to employees.
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At the end of the CSE, concluded in the middle of the afternoon, Olivier Dupont, local FO and central CSE secretary, did not wish to speak directly. The inter-union has agreed: it will not communicate before having taken stock with its lawyer Thomas Hollande.
According to information gleaned throughout the day, it is indeed a relocation plan that was revealed to the members of the CSE. We learn that the production of liquid chocolate should be subcontracted to the European manufacturer Barry Callebaut. The Strasbourg factory belonging to Carambar & Co and which manufactures the Suchard brand would then receive the liquid chocolate to make molds and packaging for the Poulain brand. Furthermore, the chocolate powder would be subcontracted to Kruger in Germany. It is this same group which took over, a year earlier, the production of chocolate powders (Kaba and Benco brands) for the European market which was manufactured at the Villebarou site. As for the so-called gourmet tablets, they would be made in Belgium.
A potential buyer still on the table
In a press release, the management of Carambar & Co justifies its decision due to structural underactivity – “the production lines (tablets and powders) at the Villebarou factory are only running at 25% of their capacity”. Faced with this situation, it reaffirms having sought industrial partners in the chocolate and agri-food sectors, but “that no one wanted to go further. However, if a long-term industrial project were to be presented, management would look at it carefully. » If the idea of a buyer is potentially still on the table, union delegates remain doubtful: “We have the impression that the potential buyer is variable depending on the subjects discussed. We don’t see anything concrete.”
The group’s management indicates that the social partners will be consulted to give an opinion on this closure project next fall. In the meantime, she says she is committed to “continue constructive social dialogue in order to provide the best possible support for the 109 employees concerned”. Negotiations on the content of the employment protection plan seem to be starting, as management mentions: “We will ensure that professional mobility is favored as much as possible within the group’s other sites in France or in other companies in the region operating in the agri-food sector. »
The management of Carambar & Co specifies that it will reserve the first of any additional information for all of its employees.
