“We had the first negotiation meeting (of the departure plan with the management) on January 12, it was extremely disappointing”, harangued Vania Brouillard, FO delegate, during a picket line bringing together a hundred employees. “The kitty, which we are formalizing today, will be used to influence the negotiations and finance a potential long strike,” he added.
The objective of the employees remains to maintain the activity of the factory in the long term, or, at least, to obtain a maximum of aid for retraining.
On site, production has been stopped since Monday, according to the unions. The strike is to continue until Sunday inclusive. The site had already been down for three days earlier this month, and the unions are planning a new strike for “at least two weeks” in February.
Site is viable, says mayor
In November, Heineken announced the closure “within three years” of this factory located in the suburbs of Strasbourg and where 220 employees work, to consolidate its production on the sites of Mons-en-Baroeul (North) and Marseille. The employees received the support of several local elected officials and parliamentarians who had made the trip, including the mayor of Schiltigheim.
“It’s an unacceptable closure. The site is viable, it makes money, it’s a purely speculative decision. Heineken cannot claim to be a family group while sacrificing one of its children”, has declared the chosen one.
“We want the negotiations to lead to the signing of an agreement, it is in the interest of the employees,” a manager in charge of communication at Heineken told AFP.
“In the event of failure of the negotiations, the PSE (plan to safeguard employment, editor’s note) would be imposed unilaterally, this is not the outcome that the management wants”, she added.
