An end-of-conflict protocol was signed by the CGT to end the strike initiated at Vencorex in Isère.
The CGT in turn signed an end-of-conflict protocol on Tuesday which should allow the end of the strike initiated two months ago in the chemical company Vencorex in receivership, said a spokesperson for the group. The Isérois group has two sites in the Lyon metropolitan area, in Saint-Fons and Saint-Priest.
Read also : Danger for Vencorex, pillar of chemistry in Isère: Rhône employees mobilized
€40,000 compensation per employee
The CGT thus joins the two other unions, the CFDT and the CFE-CGC, which had already initialed the agreement last week, while the CGT continued to block alone the production site of Pont-de-Claix (Isère) for request its backup.
Its membership should now allow “the end of the strike, the return to normal work for all employees, the unblocking of the platform (flow of trucks, wagons, etc.), as well as the valve of the Transalp ethylene pipeline, which was blocked“, according to the Vencorex management spokesperson to AFP. The agreement provides that employees will receive compensation of 40,000 euros per person, paid by the group's shareholder, he indicated.
Marc Ferracci, Minister of Industry and Energy, welcomed the agreement: “Thanks to the spirit of responsibility of all parties, the resumption of activity at the chemical platform and the reopening of the Transalpes pipe valve are once again possible“, he said on Tuesday.
A single offer received by the Lyon commercial court
A large number of Vencorex's 460 employees went on strike on October 23, completely blocking the Vencorex production site south of Grenoble following its placement in receivership. The company, currently owned by the Thai petrochemical group PTT GC, was granted four months of respite in November to find a buyer by the Lyon commercial court, until March 10.
It has so far received only one takeover offer, issued by its Chinese competitor Wanhua via a Hungarian subsidiary, which presented an improved version last Thursday. The group now proposes to resume “more than 50 employees“, compared to 25 preserved jobs previously announced, and an investment “estimated at more than 10 million euros by 2027”.
Several dozen elected officials, for their part, called last week on Prime Minister François Bayrou to carry out a “temporary nationalization“of Vencorex in order to avoid its “dismantling” and the loss for the country of a “industrial space” essential.
