Issoudun (France) (AFP)

"We are at the edge of the road and we are going to get laminated". None of the seven takeover offers from the clothing brand La Halle includes the two logistics platforms of Indre: 487 direct jobs are threatened, others could follow.

"The situation is catastrophic for the depots of Issoudun (285 employees) and Montierchaume (202). (...) None of the buyers is interested in logistics", notes, disappointed, Philippe Visse, union delegate CFTC.

"The administrators are looking for a logistician. But if on June 8, there is no takeover logistician, we continue with a job backup plan", he explains, in front of the warehouse issoldunois. Behind him, a cross of several meters symbolizing the burial of the site stands with the inscription "1984-2020".

Weakened by two months of closure during confinement, after the "yellow vests" and strikes against the pension reform, La Halle was placed in the safeguard procedure on April 21. Its owner, the Vivarte group, ended up asking for bankruptcy at the end of May.

"We received seven offers (...) which would take 3.195 people out of 5.391 at this stage," said Patrick Puy, CEO of Vivarte. "2,196 people, to date, would not be recovered."

Nearly 500 of these left behind work in the warehouses of Issoudun (shoes) and Montierchaume (clothes), near Châteauroux.

"Personally, I don't believe it at all," says Thierry Genet, FO delegate. "Our repositories are not top-level in terms of sophistication. There is no robotics and all that. (...) At the end of July, at the beginning of August, we are on the job."

"Mr. Macron said + we will not leave anyone on the side of the road +. We are on the side of the road and we will be laminated, crushed", abounds his colleague from the inter-union, Patrice Sénéchal, representative of the CAT (Autonomous Confederation of Labor). "For the hope of finding work, it's zero. The businesses around are in the same state as us. There will be a domino effect."

"It's not just us," confirms Mr. Visse. "We have suppliers, carriers. They will also leave feathers there. (...) We are the forgotten ones, compared to large groups like Renault."

- "It is a social drama" -

At the factory gate, the afternoon teams come in small groups, bottles of water under their arms to fight against the overwhelming heat. Many express their anger and despair.

"We are disgusted", annoys Corinne Bernard, who has worked on the site since its creation by the shoe maker André in 1984. "I am four years away from retirement, I don't have much hope of finding a job . "

"We need us, we are made to work. We no longer need us: goodbye and thank you!", Prevails Bruno Deleuvre, who joined the company in 1990.

Hope? "Christmas is over (...) It is 500 unemployed people and the region is disaster stricken."

Same observation for Mr. Genet: "We do not expect much after the layoff. All companies in the sector are wobbly, like us."

At the town hall of Issoudun, André Laignel, who had fought to attract André in the early 1980s, wants to do everything to avoid the sinking.

"There are 285 employees, but we also have three large transport companies that will be in danger. This therefore affects more than 500 jobs. This is a social drama," laments the mayor PS.

"I will seize the Prime Minister. In his speech of March 16, the President of the Republic is committed (...) The drama which is playing requires a powerful and effective intervention of the State", insists the elected official , in office since 1977.

With the difficulties encountered by Safran Seats, specialist in aircraft seats, "we will lose 1,150 jobs in a city of 12,000 inhabitants".

"Issoudun is the city most affected and quickly Indre will follow. We are talking about Renault, but at the local level, it is a much more serious disaster," said Mr. Laignel. "We are not going to let ourselves die without reacting."

© 2020 AFP