The blocking of the General Electric site in Montoir-de-Bretagne still in progress

Access to the Genral Electric factory in Montoir-de-Bretagne, near Saint-Nazaire, has been blocked since Friday December 13. Management refuses to negotiate until the blockage is lifted.

Announced on September 19, the restructuring plan of Ge Vernova, a subsidiary of the American group General Electric, provides for the elimination of 360 positions on its Montoir-de-Bretagne and Nantes/Saint-Herblain sites, in Loire-Atlantique.

Employees at the Montoir factory have blocked access to their factory since Friday December 13. Concrete blocks were installed at the entry and exit points of heavy goods vehicles as well as at certain “strategic locations” from the factory for “block internal flows”, affirmed the CGT.

“Monday morning, management summoned the union delegates to discuss the situation,” announced the unions in a joint CGT/CFE-CGC press release published Monday evening, “They affirmed that they had obtained progress from the group on employment and social measures and that they still had discussions to obtain additional progress on certain support measures.”

On the other hand, according to the unions, management refuses to negotiate until the blockade is lifted, threatening to end the negotiations and passing “the plan unilaterally to the initial conditions”.

Contacted by our colleagues at AFP, the site management did not confirm this information, ensuring that it recognized “employees’ full right to demonstrate”.

“We are determined to continue to demonstrate transparency and to engage in dialogue with all stakeholders, as part of the ongoing information-consultation procedure with local employee representatives,” added management.

This Tuesday morning, the unions indicate that the blockage is still in progress after an attempt by management to evacuate access to the site. Monday evening, “management commissioned a subcontractor to remove concrete blocks. One block was removed. There followed an exchange with the site director who suspended the unblocking operation.”

The social plan concerns 58% of the workforce in Nantes, or 220 engineering positions and a third of the jobs, 140 positions, at the Montoir-de-Bretagne factory, specializing in the construction of nacelles for offshore wind farms.

Last March, GE had already confirmed “adjustments” to the workforce of its subcontractors in Montoir-de-Bretagne. “Including the temporary positions eliminated earlier this year, nearly 1,000 jobs will have disappeared in just one year in this region, jeopardizing a key sector of our energy future”affirms the CFE-CGC.

“We have the feeling of an immense human and industrial wasteMatthias Tavel, LFI deputy for Loire-Atlantique, reacted as soon as the social plan was announced. We have a sector of excellence, a sector that the country needs for its sovereignty, its electricity supply in the years to come.”

This Tuesday, December 17, Matthias Tavel co-signed with the LFI deputy for the 3rd constituency of Loire-Atlantique de Ségolène Amiot a letter addressed to the new Prime Minister François Bayrou.

This maritime wind turbine nacelle assembly plant “is one of only two factories of this type in France and is therefore absolutely essential to the development of maritime wind power in our country, unless it depends on imports and further degrades our foreign trade.”

The two deputies recall having alerted “successive ministers on several occasions” since last March.

“At a time when the government must confirm calls for tenders to achieve the maritime wind deployment objectives set by the President of the Republic (18 GW in 2035, 45 GW in 2050), the decision to remove 220 jobs is totally incomprehensible and unacceptable.”

There is urgency, as the first layoffs will take place at the beginning of 2025.

Matthias Tavel and Ségolène Amiot

Press release dated December 17, 2024

The two deputies conclude by asking the new Prime Minister “the commitment that (its) government will mobilize all means at its disposal, including if necessary the nationalization of the company, to ensure the sustainability of this site, which is essential to the interest and sovereignty of the nation, as well as preserving jobs.

GE Vernova, which brings together the energy activities of General Electric since the split in April of the American conglomerate, manufactured at its Montoir-de-Bretagne site the nacelles for the wind farm installed off the coast of Saint-Nazaire, and worked for the wind farm. Dogger Bank, UK.

GE Vernova employs a total of 75,000 people worldwide, including 7,500 in France.

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