Dozens of employees of the Tereos factory in Escaudoeuvres have been blocking entrances and exits to the site since Wednesday, to protest against its upcoming closure, just announced by the sugar giant.
A tractor was installed in the morning across the entrance by the employees, who burned a mountain of tires and wooden planks.
"
No to closing
", could be read on a sheet hanging from the gates of the factory.
“
We are blocking the outflow of sugar, of the 40,000 tonnes that are in the silo and of seeds for the next campaign
”, declared Adrien Fené, 36, boilermaker and CGT secretary of the CSE.
For him, the factory closes to "
maximize the profits
" of Tereos, because "
the Escaudoeuvres site has never caused the group to lose money
".
job cuts
Tereos, owner of Beghin-Say, announced on Wednesday the closure of this sugar factory, as well as a distillery, which could lead to the elimination of 149 jobs, as part of a project to "reorganize its industrial activity
in France
”.
Escaudoeuvres, 123 posts, should close in three months, due to a “
decline in volumes of beets committed, which is mainly explained by agronomic reasons (crop rotation, drought, jaundice)
”, according to the group.
Management says it wants to favor a reclassification of employees by offering “
different positions within other sites
” in the region.
“
We could not expect the closure of this factory when the group has invested more than 60 million euros in five years
”, reacted Nicolas Siegler, president (right) of the agglomeration of Cambrai, came on the spot. .
“
It is the industrial heart of this territory that is slowing down
,” he lamented.
The sugar giant Tereos was recently ordered in Lille to pay more than 9 million euros in damages for having polluted the Scheldt in 2020, due to a lack of maintenance of the Escaudoeuvres site.