Messimy (France) (AFP)
About 200 employees of Boiron, where a restructuring should lead to the elimination of 646 jobs, demonstrated Wednesday in Messimy (Rhône) to denounce the "pretext" of the delisting of homeopathy to dismiss.
Equipped with whistles to call out motorists, the demonstrators unfurled banners around the head office, where the third of the five extraordinary central works councils aimed at negotiating the job protection plan (PSE) was held.
"We want to express our anger and our disgust because, when we spoke of delisting, all the employees stepped up to defend the company and the way to thank us is to fire us", criticized Martine Grimm, of FO, employee of the Strasbourg site, doomed to close.
Scheduled for January 1, 2021, "the delisting has accelerated things but I think things were already planned and it is the excuse that allows to go further", she added to AFP.
In March, management announced the elimination of 646 jobs in France, or a quarter of the laboratory's workforce, and the closure of 13 of its 31 sites, including the production site in Montrichard (Loir-et-Cher).
"This is an important plan due to a drop in activity suffered after the announcement of the delisting of homeopathy and the entire smear campaign against homeopathy which has already caused us to lose more than 20% of our turnover. business in France ", was justified in front of the press the deputy managing director of Boiron, Jean-Christophe Bayssat.
Boiron has a total of 3,700 employees worldwide.
© 2020 AFP