Some 600 employees, 450 according to the police, of the automotive supplier Sam demonstrated Thursday in Rodez to protest against possible job cuts while a round table is organized by the prefect of Aveyron in the presence of a representative of the Renault group.
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"
Today (Thursday), it's to show that employees have a face
", explains Sébastien Lallier elected CGT to the CSE of the Aveyron company of metallurgy (Sam) of Viviez (Aveyron) on the outskirts of Decazeville, a former bastion industrial and mining in the heart of this rural department.
The majority of the 357 workers of the Sam, who have occupied their car foundry factory since Tuesday, came with a sign around their neck bearing the words "
minus one
" to signify the announced disappearance of their jobs.
"We have to fight"
"
We have to fight because otherwise the territory will die slowly
", launches the CGT representative before participating in the round table organized by the prefect of Aveyron, Valérie Michel-Moreaux, in the village hall of Rodez in presence of local elected officials but also of a representative of the Renault group, the main client of the Sam.
In front of the village hall, the demonstrators, joined by supporters of Unsa, Sud solidaires, CGT Bosch or the Confédération paysanne, spoke loudly.
They lit firecrackers and smoke, whistling the arrival of the delegation from the Ministry of Industry and acclaiming the entry into the meeting of staff representatives.
A total of a thousand jobs could disappear in the employment areas of Decazeville and Rodez, because of the 214 job cuts planned by the Spanish group CIE Automotive, the only candidate for the resumption of the activity of the Sam, In addition, there are 750 jobs that the management of the Bosch factory in Onet-le-Château plans to eliminate by 2025.
Demographic erosion
“
There is a big problem at the national level concerning OEMs in the automotive sector.
I think that the French state should ensure that 50% of the equipment is manufactured in France
”, estimates Christian Teyssèdre, the mayor of Rodez.
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The employees of Sam and Bosch "
are right to want to make their voices heard
," he insisted.
The employees of the Sam plan to demonstrate again on March 21 in Decazeville, that is to say one month to the day after a first demonstration which had brought together more than 2,000 people in this city of 5,000 inhabitants, which, in 40 years, has lost nearly two-thirds of its inhabitants.
A similar round table is to be held in the prefecture on March 19, this time around the Bosch dossier.