Worried about new regulations on asbestos in their sector, employees of the ship repair company Damen in Brest burned tires and pallets on Friday, December 17 in front of the sub-prefecture whose grid was set on fire, learned the 'AFP to the latter.
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At the end of the demonstration organized by the CGT which brought together a hundred people from the Damen company and the port of Brest, this fire "
completely
destroyed
the gate
" of the sub-prefecture, told AFP the sub-prefect of Brest Jean-Philippe Setbon, who had previously received a delegation.
The regulations, called tracking before work (RAT), which must come into force in January, makes an asbestos diagnosis mandatory before any work.
“It works very well.
So why change? ”
“
But we are already doing this diagnosis! Except that, currently, it takes 24 or 48 hours whereas, with the new regulations, it will take two months before having the result and starting the work. A boat cannot wait two months like that, it is not possible
”, considers Romuald L'hostis, union representative at Damen which has 180 employees in Brest. "
The boats will go to be repaired in other countries, in Spain for example, and will no longer come to us,
" he fears, stressing that this new regulation is purely French and not European. “
We have asbestos protocols validated by the labor inspectorate. It works very well. So why change?
“Asks the trade unionist, worried about the future of the industry and the resulting jobs.
In total, he said, around 500 direct jobs, especially in Marseille, are affected by this new protocol which concerns only civil but not military reparation.
"
It is the safeguard of our jobs which is at stake
", he said, stressing that the employees sounded the alarm bells for several months without success on these new provisions.
“
Their objective (in the government, Editor's note), believes Romuald L'hostis, is to get us out of the asbestos system
”, specific assistance provided to employees who have been exposed to the risk of asbestos during their professional career.
Jean-Philippe Setbon said he had filed a complaint after these degradations.
