to save Vencorex, elected officials submit an idea to François Bayrou

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Several dozen elected officials called on Prime Minister François Bayrou on Tuesday to validate the idea of ​​a “temporary nationalization” of the chemical group in receivership. Vencorex (Isère) in order to avoid its “dismantling” and the loss for the country of an essential “industrial space”.

This request is not “an ideological position” but “a pragmatic demand (in order to) give ourselves all the means to safeguard the activity of the site”, insist the elected officials, in this open letter addressed to the new head of government.

LFI, PS, Ecologist and PCF

At the initiative of the mayors of the municipalities concerned, Pont-de-Claix and Jarrie, both in Isère, this letter is signed by 48 parliamentarians and political party leaders, notably Olivier Faure, Marine Tondelier, Fabien Roussel and Manuel Bompard .

A large part of 550 employees of Vencorex have been on strike since October 23 and are completely blocking the Pont-de-Claix production site south of Grenoble, to demand its protection. 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.

Only one offer received

The company has so far received only one takeover offer, issued by the Chinese group Wanhua, its main competitor, via a Hungarian subsidiary. The offer, of one million euros, initially planned to retain only 25 jobs.

This offer has “in the meantime been increased to 50” jobs, indicate the elected officials who nevertheless denounce “a real disaster scenario” in the event of liquidation with “the dismissal of almost all employees, the shutdown of tools competitive industrial projects financed in part by public subsidies (…) as well as the creation of an industrial wasteland of 120 hectares, classified SEVESO high threshold”.

“Worse, the judicial recovery served as a pretext for other industrialists, present on the chemical platform or on the neighboring one of Jarrie, to announce the closure of their activities, recorded or still under study”, they continue in reference to the Arkema group and the risks of a domino effect on other parts of the sector.

The unions have been calling for a temporary nationalization of Vencorex for several weeks, the elected officials point out: “We support this project and are calling on you to ensure that it is seriously studied by state services,” they write.

A government source assured Monday that blocking Vencorex employees is counterproductive and would threaten 3,000 direct jobs, or even 10,000 indirectly. In addition, employees, if they continue to reject any agreement, risk losing the 40,000 euros in supra-legal compensation negotiated for them with the shareholder, according to this same source.

With AFP

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