Nantes (AFP)

Drop in production at the Haye-Fouassière plant near Nantes, walkouts and closure of the LU museum a few kilometers away: the LU brand, owned by the US group Mondelez, is causing concern in the cradle of the iconic Petit Butter.

"This is no longer the factory that some have known ten or fifteen years ago, it is no longer the beautiful era of LU and today the roller advance, advance, advance?", Laments Fabrice Defoort, delegate CGT at the factory in The Hague-Fouassière.

It is on this site that are produced, since the Baco quay's move in 1986, LU biscuits, starting with the most famous of them, recognizable by its four sides and its 52 teeth: the Petit Beurre, imagined by Louis Lefèvre-Utile more than 130 years ago.

But in The Hague-Fouassière, employees are worried: the production has increased from 45,000 tons in 2014 to 31,000 tons today, and the workforce has dropped from 500 employees to 330, according to figures from the CGT, which also alert about the abolition of some fifteen posts by 2020.

Since Monday afternoon, the production is disrupted because of a call to strike in support of a worker, fired after 17 years in the company. The social movement, which impacted Tuesday three of the four production lines (Belin, BelVita, Petit Beurre and Straw Gold), is renewable until Saturday.

It is "a dismissal for misconduct, in connection with repeated failures to different safety rules," assured AFP the food group Mondelez, owner of LU since 2007.

The CGT is demanding the reinstatement of the 41-year-old worker whose dismissal reflects, in his view, a "very tense" climate since the arrival of a new plant director last November.

"There is a phenomenal change and from morning to night we blackmail the employees: we, our competitors are not the galettes Saint-Michel or anything, our real competitors are the employees of Eastern Europe, in the same society as ours, denounces Mr Defoort, mentioning Poland and the Czech Republic.

"We are told: + if you are not competitive, we have the same lines that are not saturated in Eastern Europe, and we will send volumes there +", he explains.

An argument swept by Mondelez that reaffirms that "France is a key country" for the group. "The portfolio of historic and iconic brands, the presence of the group and its investments are important," he notes. One million euros was invested in 2018 on one of the biscuit lines.

This plant "is a historic and essential link in biscuit production in France," said Wednesday Matthieu Le Paih, director of the site of The Hague-Fouassière. It is the second production site of the group among its nine French factories.

The American giant, also owner of Mikado and Chocolates Milka and Côte-d'Or, derives 40% of its revenues from sales in Europe.

- A new museum? -

Concerns also affect Goulaine Castle, a few kilometers from the factory. This jewel has been welcoming the LU Museum since 1999, with more than 600 objects, advertising posters and decorated metal boxes. Open at the time when the brand was in the lap of Danone, the museum will close at the end of November, decided Mondelez.

"It's completely incomprehensible since it was not in the sense of the exchanges we had," surprised Christophe de Goulaine, co-owner of the castle, who laments "a brutal decision."

With 20,000 visitors in 2018, the museum was yet "annual growth between 15 and 18% more visitors," he says, ensuring that without the resources of the museum, the durability of the castle arises.

Mondelez argues that the collection will be displayed in a new place in the brand's original cradle, "where the works will be better valued and better preserved", without giving more details. In September, the group had also acquired several works at an auction, including the first drawing of "Petit Beurre" hand of Louis Lefèvre-Utile in 1886, auctioned 16,900 euros.

? 2019 AFP