The muffled noise of the machines recedes, silence almost settles in the aisles of the Aluminum foundry Thursday, June 30. The 290 employees and temporary workers were unable to attend the last pour. The patient forty cylinder heads, the oven is capricious after days of shutdown. A silence that marks the end of 41 years of existence for this industrial site, automotive subcontractor based in Ingrandes-sur-Vienne, and so many stories in the heart of the Châtellerauldais basin.
290 employees and temporary workers made redundant
Three years from retirement, Jean-Marc began his trade here in 1984. He remembers his first steps as a cross-country skier, his first heads, the main part of an automobile engine. “It hurts“entrust it trembling voice Severine. With her husband, they watch the last moments of a long career as a founder. The holidays will be at home.
– Sarah D’Hers
“We lose everything, our second family” Bitter coward Catherine in office for 21 years, day and night. She wants, like many, to accept being unemployed, to experience it. “It’s hard, but they are no longer children. _Every one of them has to bounce back__”_ wishes Michel Maire, the director of the factory after months of negotiations with the State and their main customer Renault.
The employees had however proposed to convert the site to electricity. “The politicians were too cautious” assures Jean-Philippe Juin, CGT union representative of the aluminum foundry.
– Sarah D’Hers
“There will be no more foundry”
The official closure is expected on July 5, day of the deliberation of the Paris Commercial Court. “There will be no more foundries, they are closing one after the other, it’s an industrial mess” loose Christophe, pointing to the closure of the Fonte Foundry a year ago.
“What happens to us, it will happen to others. The industrial sector of the automobile disappears. _Today the cylinder heads, tomorrow it will be the assembly_“ concludes Catherine, a miniature piece in hand, her farewell present.