Between 800 and 1,000 people demonstrated in Sarreguemines (Moselle) on Friday to protest against the proposed sale by the German group Daimler of the Smart site and to demand guarantees to maintain jobs.
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Representatives of the inter-union (CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFDT and CFTC), which had called for the demonstration, opened the march around 10 am behind a banner on which was written: “ Employees and inter-union Smartville: same fight, let's save our jobs ”.
The demonstrators protested against the proposed sale by the German group Daimler of the Smart site. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN / AFP
The German group Daimler, owner of the Mercedes and Smart brands, announced in early July that it wanted to sell the small car manufacturing plant, installed since 1997 in the municipality of Hambach, near Sarreguemines, due to financial difficulties linked to the Covid-19 epidemic.
The procession, applauded by residents from their windows or their balconies, joined the sub-prefecture chanting " Maintaining jobs!" Or " Daimler betrayal!" ". “ Work more, get paid less and get thrown away like a rag! This is Daimler's policy! We'll make you pay for your betrayal! », Exasperated a protester. The employees had in fact approved in 2015 a competitiveness plan called " Pacte 2020 ", providing for a return to 39 hours of weekly work, 37 paid, with a restoration of 35 hours in 2020.
The Briton Ineos has expressed interest in taking over the Smartville site, which employs around 1,600 employees and subcontractors, to produce its future thermal SUV, the Grenadier. “ We are against this project (which) only guarantees us three years of work, no more. We must have an eight-year guarantee with the 1,600 employees, ”Jean-Luc Bielitz, CGT union delegate, told protesters.
The departure of the German manufacturer " is a catastrophe both economically and socially ", sighs Daniel Muller, the mayor of Hambach, a town of about 3,000 inhabitants located near the German border. " We cannot leave 1,600 people behind ," he adds, recalling that the arrival of Smart in 1997 had been " a breath of fresh air " for the territory, marked by the closure of mines. At the end of the demonstration, a delegation was received in the sub-prefecture.
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On Wednesday, the unions had met in Bercy the Minister for Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who is due to travel to Smartville next week. The production was stopped Friday, at the call of the intersyndicale.
