A decisive decision for the former employees of the SAM foundry this Tuesday, March 29 at 2 p.m. They will know if the occupation of their factory by its former workers, in Viviez, is illegal or not.
The Rodez court, which heard both parties last Thursday, March 24, will give its decision. The request for expulsion comes from the legal representatives. During the hearing less than a week ago, the prosecutor considered that there was a problem of “legality” while considering that there was no urgency to decide this question.
The price of aluminum that blazes
This showdown has two goals for the employees of the foundry. It is preserve the work tool : the factory, the ovens, the machines so that a potential can take over the site. The former SAM employees also want to continue to put pressure on Renault to obtain satisfactory redundancy bonuses.
To get high bonuses, the war in Ukraine also gave them an argument. They made parts ordered by Renault months ago. Aluminum parts never bought.
Four million euros worth of coins
And with the closure of factories in Russia and the price of aluminum soaring, these parts have become very important says Ghislaine Gistausecretary of the CGT union at SAM. “We see that Renault is very, very established, especially with the manufacture of the Lada. The difficulties are considerable for Renault with the factories which are currently shut down in Russia. We have a stock which represents approximately 4 million euros of parts, some of which are finished. There are 1 million euros of finished parts. Today we consider this to be an asset. On the one hand, these parts were produced with aluminium, which was much, much cheaper than today. So it would necessarily be an added value for the manufacturer. So for us it is our war chest.”