Hambach (France) (AFP)

"It's the fight of our lives": the employees of the Smart site in Hambach (Moselle) are worried about their future and hardly got any answers after the CSE Thursday with representatives of Daimler, who announced plans to sell the site.

"The answers are sometimes elusive, sometimes not precise," announces Patrick Hoszkowicz, CDFT delegate, before giving an account of the extraordinary Social and Economic Committee (CSE) to the employees gathered outside the main door of the factory.

The intersyndicale (CGT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, CFDT and FO) questioned for two hours the two representatives of Mercedes-Benz, who came from Stuttgart (Germany) for the CSE, which were also attended by two representatives of Smart France.

"We will not be the only production site (of the group impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic), there will be other decisions of this type to come in the coming months", they were told by M Hoszkowicz.

Employees of the Mosellan site, dubbed "Smartville" and the historic cradle of the small car since 1998, learned last Friday of the intention of Daimler, owner of the Smart and Mercedes brands, to resell the factory due to a difficult financial situation. and a "reorientation of the capacities of (its) global production network".

The German manufacturer had announced in spring 2019 the end of production of the Smart, relocated to China from 2022. Instead, a high-end Mercedes electric model was to be manufactured from autumn 2020.

Some € 500 million had been earmarked for the transformation works, which were almost completed.

- "Green factory" -

The British group Ineos announced Tuesday to negotiate with Daimler the acquisition of the Hambach site to produce its future 4X4 Grenadier. The petrochemical giant already has a factory in Sarralbe, a municipality located a few kilometers from Hambach.

"Our only objective is to guarantee jobs for everyone. It is the fight of our lives," insists Mario Mutzette, CFE-CGC representative.

According to the unions, the sale could take place in 2021.

For Daimler, "Ineos is the ideal candidate. We felt that these people wanted to go very quickly. When they are told that there are other possibilities, they do not respond. They do not look for any other solution. The only answer they always have is: Ineos. They must offer us projects that are consistent with the site, "notes Emmanuel Brenner, CFTC.

"We are a showcase of electricity, a green factory, so we do not see how we will get to a thermal vehicle, a big SUV that consumes a lot. I feel it very badly," says Denis Weintz for the CFE-CGC.

Around 10:30 a.m., the employees walked out to gather in front of the communication center where the CSE was held.

"Everyone is there to point out our disappointment. No one expected it. Some, like me, were happy to be seated on a chair when they heard the news so as not to fall," said an employee of the logistics.

Many of them, serious faces and masks on their mouths, wore a black T-shirt with the inscription "Smart 2020" on the back.

- "We are scared" -

"We celebrated 20 years of Smart in 2018, Smartville is our life," says a 40-year-old woman, employed since 1997. "With the Mercedes, we had the peace of mind to go to the We are afraid. "

"There are everyone, the workshops, the offices, the managers. It's rare. We are all united to save Smartville," said a 32-year-old assembly worker.

"Everyone is gunned down. Mercedes was a project for the future, the reward for our work, the recognition of Mercedes," observes a manager, in his fifties.

Employees had approved in 2015 a competitiveness plan called "2020 Pact", providing for the return to 39 hours of weekly work, paid 37, with a reinstatement of 35 hours in 2020.

"It had to be closed (this year) and they are doing this to us ... It's confusing," notes the logistics worker.

"Daimler must be accountable!" Warns Thomas Di Francesco, CGT representative.

The employees returned to work at 3:00 p.m. and plan to take action in the coming days.

© 2020 AFP