CGT employees and unionists from Fonderie de Bretagne, a subsidiary of Renault, in front of the Caudan factory (Morbihan) on December 18, 2024 (AFP / LOIC VENANCE)
In an open letter addressed to Emmanuel Macron, several union officials as well as deputies call on the President of the Republic to intervene with Renault so that the manufacturer commits to maintaining orders until 2028 for the Fonderie de Bretagne (FDB) , threatened with closure.
“We refuse to allow the closure of the Fonderie de Bretagne to become a symbol of the deindustrialization of the country and the inability of the State to be respected by large French groups,” is written in the letter, signed among others by the general secretary of the CGT Sophie Binet and the president of the CFE-CGC François Hommeril.
Several Breton MPs and elected officials also signed the letter, which deplores Renault's refusal “to guarantee any market share to FDB, preferring to relocate its production to Turkey, Spain and Portugal”.
The Fonderie de Bretagne, which employs 350 people in Caudan (Morbihan) in the manufacture of cast iron parts for automobiles, “was built by and for Renault after a long struggle in the early 1960s”.
The “sudden disengagement” of the manufacturer poses the threat of a closure of the factory, write the signatories. Until now, Renault represented 95% of the factory's turnover.
While the German fund Private Assets had applied for a takeover, committing “to bring 11,000 tonnes per year of new production (…) allowing us to quickly escape commercial dependence on the automobile sector” , Renault refused to maintain its orders until 2028, “time to allow diversification to ramp up”.
“The State has levers to force Renault to play the game of made in France,” insist the signatories of the letter. The group received 298 million euros in public aid in 2023 and benefited from “a state-guaranteed loan of 4 billion during Covid”, they write.
The French state also holds 15% of the manufacturer's capital. “The outcome hangs by a thread: Renault’s commitment,” concludes the letter, calling on Emmanuel Macron to intervene with the manufacturer’s management.
