Cholet, predominantly working-class, is a medium-sized town where Catholic hierarchy and employer paternalism have a traditional influence: in a fifty-year-old factory like that of Michelin, a secure career seemed offered to anyone who could enter.
Also, at the beginning of November, the brutal announcement of its closure was experienced as a stab in the face by the thousand employees, the subcontractors and the entire city (the UDR mayor even railing against the “capitalist thugs”).
Attempts at management intimidation foiled
Contrary to what management hoped for, some of the employees engaged in a prolonged struggle, partially blocking the factory. The CFDT itself had to, for a time, join the CGT and SUD. Above all, a struggle committee was formed, bringing together nearly a hundred of the most mobilized (Olivier Besancenot came to meet them on November 20). The management’s attempts to prosecute 7 members of the committee (including a member of the CGT, Bastien) failed, the courts deciding on a conciliation which resulted, in fact, in the perpetuation of the strike pickets, their barnums and of their canteen (run by solidarity activists).
An anti-capitalist December 12
The national day of December 12 was a relaunch of action, after the first major demonstration of November 8. This time, the struggle committee, the CGT and SUD were able to count on the reinforcement of delegations from local companies or the Michelin group (notably Vannes and Clermont-Ferrand). The CGT had widely mobilized, as evidenced by the forest of flags and red chasubles. For more than an hour, the speeches showed this diversity: struggle committee, CGT (Chemistry Federation, UD, SNCF, Total, etc.), SUD and FO. On the other hand, the CFDT was absent. The – radical – interventions of Bastien and SUD-Industrie were widely listened to. Beyond that, all the speakers carried, explicitly or implicitly, the demand for a ban on layoffs, and all, an anti-capitalist discourse.
New deadlines in sight
Like on November 8, the demonstration took place exclusively in the activity zone where the factory is located, which may have limited its impact. Opened by the struggle committee, it brought together no less than 600 people, in the visible presence of political organizations: LFI, LO, PCF, NPA, LE, etc. but not PS! This success can breathe new life into the mobilization while a majority of employees still stand aside from the struggle, banking only on better starting conditions.
The next deadlines are partly linked to the stages of negotiation with management in Clermont, on December 17 in particular with a blockage in sight. The idea of a ghost town day and a demonstration in the city center of Cholet in January is circulating, but nothing has been decided. The next few months will obviously be crucial; those who refuse the closure of the factory and want management to pay dearly for its criminal policy have not said their last word. The fight will continue.
Correspondents Cholet and Angers
