Employees in front of the Bridgestone plant in Béthune -

AFP

  • The Bridgestone group wants to close its Béthune plant and lay off its 863 employees.

  • A social disaster that the government, local elected officials and staff representatives wish to avoid.

  • A meeting was held on Monday to find alternative solutions, but relations seem complicated.

The scene shocked the employees.

On Wednesday September 16, staff representatives learned of the closure of the Bridgestone plant in Béthune via a video recorded on a USB key.

No face-to-face declaration or explanation for the 863 employees of the northern site.

“It's scandalous,” said Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region.

Since the beginning of this economic and social crisis, the leaders of Bridgestone do not shine by their transparency.

Latest example on Monday afternoon.

While two ministers, a slew of local elected officials and staff representatives gathered at the headquarters of the agglomeration community of Béthune-Douai for a video conference with the leaders of the group meeting in Brussels, Covid obliges, a statement falls.

Bridgestone: “It's misery”, “Social bingo”… Employees and political opponents find it hard to believe in a factory rescue https://t.co/KfX3REuimw via @ 20minutesLille pic.twitter. com / 5Ow8v07xmU

- 20 Minutes Lille (@ 20minuteslille) September 21, 2020

A press release falls in the middle of a meeting

The tire group announces that the cessation of activity of the site is the "only option".

Strange, whereas the round table was supposed to make it possible to find alternatives.

“It's provocation.

We learned that after the meeting with the leaders.

It's kidding the world because it's the exact opposite of what they said.

If they have a double talk, then yes, it will go wrong, ”threatens Xavier Bertrand.

@Elisabeth_Borne Minister of Labor and @AgnesRunacher Minister for Industry have arrived at the aglomeration community of Béthune.

The meeting to be held with Bridgestone's European management, unions and local elected officials including @xavierbertrand pic.twitter.com/8I3xMk82F9

- Zack Ajili (@ZackAjili) September 21, 2020

However, officially, nothing is done.

Having come especially to Pas-de-Calais to try to find a solution, Elisabeth Borne, Minister of Labor, and Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for Industry, declared that the government was going to conduct a second opinion by commissioning a consulting firm.

“This will not only allow us to look at these scenarios, but also (…) to submit alternative scenarios around this tire technology,” assured Agnès Pannier Runacher.

"Whoever tells you that the Béthune plant will not close is a sweet dreamer"

The government is banking on two options: the production of larger tires or the recycling of tires to relaunch the Béthune site.

A meeting in the next two to three weeks between the different parties will make it possible to redo a point and possibly to encourage Bridgestone to change its mind.

If the employees still believe in it a little, nobody is pulling a blueprint.

Because the group has never tried to change the site for years according to the unions.

“We don't want to give false hope.

Anyone who tells you that the Bethune plant will not close is a sweet dreamer.

But the leaders did not realize that everyone would unite against this decision, ”says Stéphane Lesix, CFDT secretary of the Bridgestone CSE.

Still, the future of the Béthune site risks being done without the tire giant.

The group already affirms "to look for companies likely to be interested in a total or partial takeover of the site and the employees or to develop projects allowing to create new activities in the region".

A plan for the reclassification of employees is also being considered.

Ministers and elected officials put pressure on the group

Under these conditions, it is difficult to believe in a future that sang in Béthune.

Despite threats from the Minister of Labor.

“In France there are laws which mean that when you want to launch a PES you have to justify economic difficulties.

I think the management of Bridgestone understood that we were determined to apply these protective legislation for employees and for jobs, ”warns Elisabeth Borne, who intends to rely on the government's recovery plan to save the site.

For his part, Xavier Bertrand recalls, to pressurize, that “Bridgestone is a top partner of the National Olympic Committee.

And the Games will take place in France in 2024. For their reputation, we must not behave as they have behaved until then.

We must turn the page.

It's up to them ”.

Not sure, however, that this is enough to bend a tire giant who seems insensitive to social and political pressures.

Economy

Bridgestone: The government will mandate a "second opinion" to avoid the closure of the Béthune plant

Economy

Bridgestone: “It's misery”, “Social bingo”… Employees and political opponents find it hard to believe in a factory rescue

  • Elisabeth Borne

  • Xavier Bertrand

  • Factory

  • Bethune

  • Employment

  • Lille

  • Economy