"We were sometimes had collectively", recognizes Emmanuel Macron to ex-Whirlpool in Amiens

“We have sometimes been fooled collectively”.

This sentence, it was Emmanuel Macron who released it to former Whirlpool group in Amiens, whom he met Monday morning in a cafe in the city center, at the start of his visit on the spot.

“It shows that unfortunately goodwill is not enough.

We have sometimes been taken for fools.

We have sometimes been collectively fooled, ”he explained, referring to the succession of bankruptcies of the buyers of this industrial site, to which he has visited several times since 2017, ensuring each time that the site could restart.

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Statement by the President @EmmanuelMacron following an exchange with former employees of the Whirlpool plant in Amiens. Https://t.co/YZZb45bXQQ

- Élysée (@Elysee) November 22, 2021

“The last year has been so difficult, we've been lied to so much.

I find it hard to talk about it, it was terrible, ”explained a former employee, who has been converted to real estate.

Two years ago, the President of the Republic had exchanged with the former employees of the factory, who since 2017 have experienced three layoffs after the failures of the two buyers.

"A huge weariness"

Monday morning's meeting, with nine Whirlpool alumni including four ex-unionists, was unveiled on Twitter by François Ruffin, LFI deputy for the Somme.

"We had to insist very hard" for this meeting, said the deputy LFI on France Bleu Picardie.

"There is a huge weariness when you go through three layoffs plans, there are buyers three times and you are told three times 'It's the right one' and you are laid off again: you end up in crumbs after an experience like this, ”added François Ruffin.

"Of the 278 initial employees, only 43 people remain to date for whom a solution must be found," said the group's HRD.

191 have benefited from employment or training (124 permanent contracts, 41 fixed-term contracts, 20 business start-ups, 6 people in training) and 41 have retired or taken early retirement.

The Whirlpool dryer factory closed permanently in June 2018. The first buyer WN had been liquidated a year and a half later and the second, Ageco, had suffered the same fate.