Lionel Gougelot 21:29 p.m., May 10, 2023, modified at 21:30 p.m., May 10, 2023

Big concern at Valdunes, the last French manufacturer of wheels and axles of train. The sole shareholder, China's Massey Steel, has decided to withdraw from the company, which employs 336 people at two sites in the north. The latter went on indefinite strike.

A picket line, employees with serious faces and factory doors, the plume of black smoke from a tire fire... For a week, the employees of this flagship of the railway industry have ceased all activity. And like Diego, a maintenance worker, they say they are abandoned and betrayed by their Chinese shareholder who suddenly decided to withdraw from the company: "We were a gateway for the Chinese in Europe. More and more, they began to homologate and recover the know-how of Valdunes. And today, we feel like he's letting us down because we have this feeling that they got what they wanted."

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Employees received at the Ministry of the Economy

The employees will be received, this Thursday, May 11, at the Ministry of the Economy. Maxime Savoie, CGT delegate, now hopes for concrete support from the public authorities. "For a year and a half, we have been asking our shareholders to position themselves on the future of Valdunes. They have been rolling us in flour for a year and a half and behind, overnight, they announce that they are withdrawing. Well, I'm sorry, it's not happening like that," reports the CGT delegate.

"We want a strong gesture from the government, from all the authorities, but we want to know what we will become. There is an envelope of 100 billion euros that has been put on the table by Elisabeth Borne. Why not for Valdunes?" he adds. Also in question, according to its employees, the SNCF which for several years has drastically reduced its orders for wheels and axles for its trains to supply abroad.