On the terrace of La Salsa, a snack bar on departmental 6089, the factory road, Nicolas and Mickaël share their latest chicken and chips. 25 and 26 years old, they are both of the “Grégoire”workers at the Saint-Martial-d’Artenset factory: “We are celebrating our departure. Because afterwards, we will no longer see each other”, Nicolas smiles sadly: “We are fired. He is from Libourne, and I from the Basque Country. I will go back there, to look for work in the greater Southwest”. In a few days, he will rent out his house.
The Grégoires, a source of pride for Montpon
The Commercial Court pronounced Thursday, April 28 the liquidation of Nouvelles Menuiseries Grégoire, announcing the dismissal of 236 employees of the huge 33 hectare site. A historic factory, which for a long time was the pride of the Vallée de l’Isle: “They were number 1 in France, it left Montpon to sell throughout Europe”, recalls a customer. As the snack manager says, “It’s going to hurt a lot. We already felt it in 2018 for the first social plan, so this time…”. At the time, 150 employees had left. The “Grégoire” constitute a large part of its clientele at lunchtime.
A lot of old people here, they worked at Grégoire. It pisses them off to see all this. They are the ones who built it, this factory
– Guillaume, at the Café du Théâtre
Most traders in Montpon say the same thing. At the Proxi, at the newsagent, where we have rarely sold so many “South West” than this Friday. At the Café du Théâtre, the bar-PMU near the cinema, Jacques the boss looks bad : “It will be unemployment, the disappearance of families too, who will go elsewhere. You remove Vauclaire, you remove Grégoire, what is left in Montpon? There is nothing left”.
“You remove Vauclaire and Grégoire, what is left here?”
The Grégoires all live in the area. Moulin-Neuf, Ménesplet, as far as Mussidan.“Factories like this, they brought a population that built in this valley, in this territory”says Dominique Leconte, the mayor of Saint-Martial-d’Artenset. “They moved once in their life to go and live next to the factory, they keep the party committees alive, they are involved. And it’s not 236 employees that we’re losing there. It’s 650. Grégoire, a few years ago, it was 650 employees.”
At the Café du Théâtre, Guillaume, a resident, shows the front page of the newspaper : “The end of carpentry”. It affects him: “In Montpon, we do not know a person who has not worked in Vauclaire, or at Grégoire. I have my father-in-law who lives in Saint-Martial, every Sunday I go to eat at his house. We pass in front of the Grégoire factory, each time he turns his head, and he looks. He spent 29 years there. He says nothing. It’s fucked up to see that. They’re the ones who built it, this factory. It’s Monsieur Grégoire, but it’s them too”.