Amiens (AFP)

"Go see how it goes to the industrial tribunal, it's win-win": employees of the Cargill factory in Haubourdin (North), targeted by a social plan, went to the tiebreaker hearing on Tuesday to Amiens concerning the ex-employees of Goodyear, as much for "solidarity" as for "learning from their experience".

There are several dozen in the bus chartered by their CGT section, which descends the A1 motorway in the dark night: some took a day off for the occasion, others declared themselves on strike, others still just finished their night service and took advantage of the trip to sleep an hour or two in the back seats.

All wonder about the fate that awaits them: the Cargill group, American giant in services and food products, announced at the end of November the elimination of 183 jobs out of 315. Since then, many employees and the CGT, majority, dispute the economic motive put forward by management, who says that one of the activities is not profitable. The group, with a global dimension, generated in 2019 a net profit of 2.56 billion dollars.

"We decided to come to Amiens to see what sauce we are going to be eaten and to get a bit of our skills," said Dorian Vallois, CGT delegate.

He and his colleagues plan to draw inspiration from the "emblematic" struggle waged by Goodyear employees, whose Amiens factory closed in January 2014: after a long battle against job cuts, 832 of them are contesting to the industrial tribunal the economic reason for their dismissals. In their parallel destinies, the employees of two groups share the same lawyer, Me Fiodor Rilov.

- "Huge lever" -

"Sincerely comrades, it’s warm to see you, I’m proud to be with you today," exclaims Mickael Wamen, CGT figure of the battle waged by the ex-Goodyears, in front of the exhibition center. 'Amiens transformed exceptionally to house the audience.

"We have to fight, we have to fight. I tell the Cargill comrades, there are battles that are worth fighting for," he encourages them.

But since the social level at Goodyear, the legislation has evolved, in particular with the "Macron ordinances": the scope of assessment of the economic cause of a dismissal has been reduced, it is now limited to the national level and no longer at the group level.

"The labor code has changed, ok, but the employees have enormous leverage and they have to realize it, it's a struggle," said AFP Mickael Wamen. "If they go hand in hand, they have to be aware of the power it can represent. What we have done, they can do too."

- "Between two lights" -

Despite the degraded listening conditions in the room that serves as a courtroom, Cargill employees are attentive to the arguments of Me Rilov during his four hours of oral argument. They leave it determined to assert their rights, but also aware of the "marathon" that awaits them.

"There are similarities with our company, one recognizes oneself in the sanction imposed in a distant way and in spite of the profits, the unjustified economic layoffs, the multinational structure and the tax optimization, the dismantling of certain sites ...", lists Bruno, one of the CGT elected officials.

"We are going to learn from it but I have the feeling that it will be long, when I see that it took 5 years (to the lawyers of the employees of Goodyear, note) to obtain documents, that means that for us , it's going to be complicated too. "

"We are caught in the crossfire," concludes Olivier, in his fifties, employed for 27 years at the establishment in Haubourdin. "Our lawyer can bring a lot of things, prove that we could make the site sustainable, but it is now a legal matter. It takes time and in the end, it can destroy us too. We have to find the happy medium" .

© 2020 AFP