The activity of the Gardanne biomass plant (Bouches-du-Rhône) which had resumed on July 13 after two and a half years of shutdown, is again suspended due to a strike, we learned Friday from of the CGT and the management.
Since August 5, at the call of the CGT, the majority union within the plant, employees have been blocking strategic positions for an undetermined period, which has led to the shutdown of the biomass plant, including the operation had resumed gradually.
"We expect the state to take its responsibilities and put all the players around the table around a project that preserves all jobs," said Nadir Hadjali, CGT manager on the site.
At the end of July, the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise validated the Employment Protection Plan (PSE) providing for the elimination of 98 jobs out of 154, due to the cessation of coal.
300 million investments, 80 direct jobs
Owned by the GazelEnergie group, the plant located near Aix-en-Provence is one of the last four coal-fired power plants, an energy harmful to the climate, that France has decided to close from 2022. The biomass unit which replaces it and in which some 300 million euros have been invested, represents around 80 direct jobs, according to GazelEnergie.
For the CGT, biomass will not compensate for the loss of the “700 indirect jobs” linked to the loss of the coal activity.
It requires a precise industrial plan and firm commitments.
GazelEnergie proposed the creation of a foundation for the reindustrialization of the site, in which it would participate financially in "a fairly significant way" and, if the project is viable, the provision of land, underlined the management of the company, subsidiary of the EPH group of Czech Daniel Kretinsky.
Society
Bouches-du-Rhône: A hundred jobs cut at the Gardanne power plant
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