REPORTAGE
Since March 17, due to confinement in an attempt to stem the coronavirus epidemic, like almost all businesses, Renault has closed all of its stores and stores in France. But in recent days, three factories have already reopened gradually. Tuesday morning, that of Flins, in the Yvelines, is the fourth. The site may be 237 hectares, but the challenge is to enforce barrier gestures and social distancing. To reduce the risk of contamination, only a third of the 1,300 employees have returned to their work overalls.
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Sanitary measures considered insufficient by some employees
Tuesday, the passage under white tents is compulsory for all employees, where their temperature is taken and kits with hydroalcoholic gel are distributed. But many fear that this is insufficient on the production chain, as explained by Olivier Augustin, CGT delegate at Renault-Flins, taking the example of assembling a car door.
"There are dozens and dozens of people who touch the same exterior handle of a car to make the door, to equip it, to control it, to get it out of this or that sector of the assembly," says T -he. "Everyone touches the same car and it's a big concern, because this virus we know it has a lifespan on sheets, plastics and carpets", points Olivier Augustin, wondering: "Who will clean these handles? Who will clean these steering wheels?".
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A hundred cars produced per day
The trade unionist also wonders if it is necessary to produce cars at this time, while France is confined at least still for ten days. Especially since production, due to the reduced number of employees, is considerably reduced at the Renault-Flins site. Where 57 cars left the factory per hour before March 17, only one hundred will be produced per day.
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But despite these conditions, some are also happy to resume. "Six weeks of confinement is still a lot," said one of the employees, and "even if we cannot greet each other with colleagues, the fact of seeing them again is quite important", he concludes.