REPORTAGE
"No to the scrapping of the job engine," we will not move ", the slogans sounded Saturday at Choisy-le-Roi against the closure of the Renault factory. The structure of Val-de-Marne is a victim of the plan savings presented last week by the Renault group and must close its doors in 2022. On the site, specializing in the reconditioning of engines and gearboxes, which employs 260 employees, they were about a thousand to walk on Saturday afternoon , according to the unions.
"70 kilometers in the morning, 70 kilometers in the evening. It's unrealistic"
The management's plan is to transfer the activity to the Flins factory in the Yvelines. But it is inconceivable for employees like Kamel, employed at Choisy since 1988 because "Flins, it would take 2 hours by car, 70 kilometers in the morning, 70 kilometers in the evening", he breathes. "It's unrealistic". Especially since many employees have their lives established in Choisy. "It's a family site, my son works there, my son's grandfather worked there, we bought, we have our wives working in the area, it's not even possible."
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More broadly, it is residents of the entire Val-de Marne who made the trip. "I have two children, we have jobs, but we fear for the future," explains Julien. Because in addition to Renault, Sanofi or Castorama also threaten to delete posts in the vicinity. For the inhabitant, "it is an industrial department but like everywhere, it undergoes financial choices which deindustrialize it".
"The bosses decided to make us pay for their crisis"
Renault management explains, for its part, that automobile production is collapsing, and that it is necessary to adjust. This is a source of misunderstanding for employees like Kamel, "it's a site that earns money, every month we are told that we are making money so it's not normal that we close" . This misunderstanding is shared by many elected officials, present in the procession, including deputies and the mayor of Choisy who hammers: "no to the closure of the Renault factory".
Employees of other manufacturers also came to support, such as Jean-Pierre Mercier, CGT delegate of the competing group PSA. "The bosses today have decided to make us pay for their crisis, there is no other solution than to fight, to fight to save your skin," he judges. And this day is not an end but a beginning promise the unions, a new day of demonstration is scheduled for June 16.