Aluminium Sabart intends to axe 9 jobs, employees show protest at Tarascon-sur-Ariège in France
On 20th March 2021, around 60-70 employees of the Aluminum Sabart gathered in Tarascon-sur-Ariège in France, to show their protest against the lay-off for the nine workers which the management of the company intends.
In the words of Mathieu Bru, the secretary of the social and economic committee (CSE) of the Ariège plant: “We wanted to organize this action to continue to alert the population and the public authorities.”
Bru added: “On the Sabart site, nine jobs are threatened. They are all production staff, including eight former Pechiney. If they are made redundant, it will be the end of the know-how. There would only be 6 or 7 people in production and they have little or no experience. "
On the day of protest, between 9 am and 1 pm, politicians came to give their support, Alain Sutra, Mayor of Tarascon, Jean-Bernard Fournie, Mayor of Quié, Philippe Pujol, President of the community of municipalities, Bénédicte Taurine , Rebellious member of Ariège, and Kamel Chibli, Regional councillor.
The trade union has called for a strike on the afternoon of 22nd March 2021, however, in the evening there will be a meeting with the management and CSE. There is a demand that Yun Xu, leader of the Jinjiang SAM, the major stakeholder of the plant needs to be present, which he has given an agreement in principle.
On 19th March 2021, Carole Delga, the President of the Occitanie region insisted on renewing all her support for employees. She believes: "The management of Sabart Alu must stop the dismissal project and offer an alternative to preserve the future of the site and jobs".
Mathieu Bru keeps a lot of hope from the upcoming round table, called for by Bénédicte Taurine after a request from employees: "There will be members of the regional and departmental councils, the directors of the company and the CGT", he lists.
In December 2020, the auditor did not want to certify the accounts of the company and opened a right of economic alert. Consequently, the leaders took some decisions: "There was a recapitalization of the debt to the tune of €4 million, details the member of the CSE and a re-size the workforce to lower the wage bill.”
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