In Blois, employees of the Poulain chocolate factory are concerned about the announced closure of the factory

More than a hundred jobs are threatened by the closure of the Poulain factory in a few months.

Two days before the second round of the legislative elections, the political issue remains a secondary subject for some, compared to more personal issues. This is the case for the employees of Poulain, in Blois, for example. The iconic chocolate factory is due to close its doors in a few months, leaving 109 people out of work.

As they leave the Poulain factory, surrounded by cocoa aromas, most of the employees have no desire to talk politics. : “I don’t have my head in the elections.” The elections seem far away to them, given the planned closure of their business, a local pride for over 170 years. Like Cédric, who has been making chocolate here for 30 years, jacket and motorcycle helmet in hand. He has not yet decided who to vote for in the second round. : “Honestly, I’m lost. On both sides, it’s just shenanigans, deals between them. I’ll make up my mind at the last minute. It’s true that the extreme right is a bit scary all the same. And on the other hand, given what we’ve experienced in recent years, I’ve never seen so many people in the streets to demonstrate their anger.”

Here, in the first constituency of Loir-et-Cher, the second round is a duel between the candidate of the National Rally, Marine Bardet and the current Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau, for the presidential majority. If the employees are disgusted, dejected, by the planned closure of the factory, many do not make any connection with the next elections. This is what Manu, logistics manager for 5 years, explains: “My work is completely separate from the elections. So yes, there is anger, there is resentment, but nothing is linked to the elections. For me, they will not change anything.”

We don’t talk politics here, confirm the two elected members of the Force Ouvrière union, Frédéric and Pascal. “For us, politics, for the moment, is not our priority. The priority is to save jobs on the site with the Poulain brand. What is happening with Poulain has nothing to do with the vote that I will make on Sunday.“, one believes. “Precisely, we have just toured the factory, we have met quite a few employees. We have not had a single employee who has said to us: ‘If such a party passes, we will have a chance of saving ourselves or on the contrary'”

Daniel’s turn to leave the workshops. He has been an operator at Poulain for around thirty years. “Budget-wise, there are a lot of things that have increased” due to inflation, the operator testifies. He will slip in an RN bulletin on Sunday, for reasons unrelated to his work: “When you see everything that happens on TV, with drug trafficking and all that, at some point you have to take responsibility for the stupid things you do…” Poulain employees will know more in the coming weeks. The unions are negotiating a job protection plan. In the first round here, the RN came out ahead, but only a few hundred votes behind the presidential camp.