Bethune (France) (AFP)

From one end of the political spectrum to the other, the mobilization intensified Thursday to put pressure on Bridgestone but also the government and try to save the Béthune (Pas-de-Calais) tire plant doomed by the Japanese manufacturer to close by 2021.

Bercy and the Hauts-de-France regional council were active during the day to set up a meeting as quickly as possible bringing together government, management, unions and local elected officials.

It should take place Monday in the sub-prefecture of Béthune.

After the announcement of the closure of the factory (863 employees), which fell like a chopper Wednesday morning, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire assured that the government would "fight" to try to "develop another activity with wider tires than those currently produced on the site ".

"And, if ever we do not arrive at this solution, (we will fight to) find solutions of reindustrialization of the site so that there is, for each worker, a coherent and acceptable solution", added the minister, lambasting an "outrageous" decision by Bridgestone.

"The real subject is the maintenance of the site, with the help of the State and the communities. The management says to have thought about alternative solutions but they did not discuss at all with us on this! let's at least wait for this exchange, "Stéphane Ducrocq, lawyer for the Social and Economic Committee, told AFP.

The factory produces small caliber tires for cars.

Bridgestone justified its decision to close it on "structural market problems", production overcapacity in Europe and competition from low-cost Asian brands.

The Japanese group, which claims the world's leading position in the tire market, describes this plant as "the least efficient" among ten of its sites in Europe, but the unions have denounced a chronic lack of investment for years.

“Today, the tires that we produce in this shop have no added value, we produce almost at a loss,” laments Christian Duchateau, CGT delegate.

"We have dried up for years but we have know-how, we were able in the past to develop new technologies, but we must be given the means to move forward", explains the union activist, for nearly four decades at the site, where his father worked before him.

He points out that other European sites of the Japanese group have benefited from investments.

While social plans have flourished --394 in France since March, against 249 over the same period in 2019, according to statistics from the Ministry of Labor released in mid-September - the entire political spectrum has taken hold of Bridgestone's announcement. , considered particularly brutal.

- "Getting wet"-

From Wednesday, local elected officials met with staff representatives.

"If Bridgestone invests, the State - we have had confirmation from the Minister (Agnès Pannier-Runacher, in charge of Industry) - the region, local communities, will also put money. But be careful, with guarantees for the future ", warned the president of the region Xavier Bertrand after the meeting.

"We must do everything to force, I mean force, Bridgestone, to consider another industrial plan," he insisted, stressing that "small tires" are no longer sold.

The number one of the PCF Fabien Roussel, a native of Bethune, in turn went there on Thursday and called on President Emmanuel Macron to "get wet".

"When I see that Bridgestone has invested 140 million euros in Poznan (in Poland), where they produce 30,000 tires per day, and that they are reducing production here, it is they who organize the unfair competition", he launched in front of the towers of the factory.

Marine Le Pen, for her part, met behind closed doors with employees of Bridgestone at the town hall of Bruay-La-Buissière, a town near Béthune passed to the RN.

For France Insoumise, "the State must demand the repayment of public aid" to Bridgestone.

Valérie Pécresse, the ex-LR president of the Ile-de-France region, also demands that we go "recover the subsidies" granted to "companies which are really rogue companies".

© 2020 AFP