Maubeuge (AFP)
A few thousand people demonstrated Saturday morning outside the Renault factory in Maubeuge, in the north of France, against the decision of the struggling car manufacturer to cut 15,000 jobs worldwide, including 4,600 in France.
The demonstrators started shortly after 10:00 local time, at the call of the factory's inter-union, a march leaving the site to reach the town hall of Maubeuge, about 6 km away.
The site, which employs around 2,100 people of all statuses, has been shutdown since Friday.
"This is an earthquake that is happening. We want to keep our business here. Today, this event is very important, even if it is only the first step, to show the government and Renault that the employees and the inhabitants of this district are attached to this company and that we are supported. We need these jobs, otherwise it is a whole territory that will die! ", Jérôme Delvaux, a trade unionist.
Many elected officials with tricolor scarves also paraded in the procession.
Tuesday, some 250 people - elected officials, unionists and employees of the Maubeuge factory - had already mobilized.
Already in trouble before the coronavirus crisis, the French automaker announced Friday the loss of about 15,000 jobs worldwide as part of a savings plan of more than 2 billion euros over three years to remedy overcapacity.
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