A hundred employees of the Gardanne coal plant (Bouches-du-Rhône) began occupying their factory on Tuesday, where a hundred jobs will be cut.
Tuesday, around 6:00 am, "
80 individuals entered hooded by breaking and entering armed with weapons (...) such as telescopic batons, tear gas, baseball bats and
bladed
weapons
", denounced GazelEnergie, which carried complaint.
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They entered the factory, where a dozen people worked, with vehicles without license plates, according to management.
Security, which was "
threatened
", could not oppose their entry.
After entering the administrative premises, empty at this time, they locked the access from the outside with padlocks, explained a spokesperson for the management.
A Seveso classified site
The management announced that it had lodged a complaint with the gendarmerie and asked the police to evacuate the site. Contacted, the CGT gave another version of the facts and indicated having "
put under protection
" the factory. According to the majority union, the departures of the first employees within the framework of the job protection plan had endangered “
the safety of the site
”, classified Seveso. "
No one is hooded and the labor inspectorate is on site,
" Nadir Hadjali, CGT representative, told AFP.
Valérie Boyer, Senator of Bouches-du-Rhône, for her part denounced in a tweet actions "
unacceptable
" and which "
represent a significant risk on a site classified Seveso
" before asking for the intervention of the police.
Owned by the GazelEnergie group, the plant located near Aix-en-Provence is one of the last four coal-fired power plants in France, whose closure is scheduled for 2022 due to their negative impact on the climate.
At the end of July, the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise had validated the Employment Protection Plan (PSE) providing for the elimination of 98 jobs out of 154, due to the cessation of coal.
The biomass unit which replaces it and in which some 300 million euros have been invested represents around 80 direct jobs, according to GazelEnergie.
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"
We are asking for the reinstatement of the thirty or so employees who have already been made redundant, to operate the biomass,
" explained Nicolas Casoni, of the CGT, who calls for a retraining plan preserving all jobs.
It is in support of this claim that at the beginning of August employees blocked strategic positions at the biomass plant, while it had gradually resumed its activity after two and a half years of shutdown.