About 2,000 people marched Saturday afternoon in support of employees of the site of Belfort General Electric, covered by a social plan against a backdrop of union division. The parade of some 2,000 people, according to the prefecture count, began at around 14:30 in the rain to arrive about 45 minutes later in front of the General Electric plant.
An event under the background of a trade union division
In addition to the presence of local elected officials, the insubordinate leader of France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, participated in the event, without making a statement. The RN had also called on its supporters to join the demonstration, denouncing in a statement "a ruthless blackmail to employment" of General Electric.
The CGT, for its part, decided not to join the parade. The union preferred to return to the picket line in front of the plant and disassociate itself from the South and CFE-CGC unions, accused by some of being "sold" because of discussions with the management.
It is "the employees and only employees who will make this choice to enter into negotiations (...)" including a "extension of the time of the negotiation of the social plan with 300 jobs saved," said the delegate CFE-CGC Philippe Petitcolin, before the departure of the event, warning against "the commitments of GE (which) are worth nothing at all". Employees are expected to vote Monday on two new management plan options proposed by management: one reducing by 111 positions the initial target of 792 job cuts, the other reducing it by 307 positions, but in return for a "plan to reduce costs and improve the performance of the site".
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At the end of 2020, the number of employees would increase to 1.079 employees in the first case or to 1.275 employees in the second. If employees rejected Monday the second option, management warns that it would submit the first on October 21 to the Regional Directorate for Business, Competition, Consumer Affairs, Labor and Employment (Direccte). The management also called on employees to "lift as soon as possible" blockages sites Belfort and Bourogne "(Territoire-de-Belfort), stopped for ten days.
On June 22, about 5,000 people had already demonstrated in Belfort against the "roller coaster" of General Electric, which employs some 4,300 employees in Belfort, including 1,800 in the gas turbine entity, targeted mainly by the social plan.