A meeting is planned between the unions and the management of Nestlé Waters on Monday while the company plans to cut 171 jobs in its factories in Vittel and Contrexéville (Vosges), by 2023. In the meantime, employees are mobilizing while the subsidiary of the Swiss group is the leading employer in the area.
It has now been six weeks since some of the 721 Nestlé Waters employees have been on strike. On strike following the announcement last May by Nestlé Waters that it wanted to cut 171 jobs in its two factories in Vittel and Contrexéville, in the Vosges. A meeting is planned for Monday, October 9 between the unions and management, in the meantime, employees are mobilizing.
At the entrance to one of the factories, some filter the trucks coming in and out, like Thierry, 53 years old. “They wait an hour and a half to two hours to load the trucks, beyond that it’s a penalty for the company. We filter, we don’t block“, says this employee who has been at home for 36 years and risks losing his job. “I am an operator so my position is impacted, in December, it will no longer exist“, deplores the fifty-year-old.
“What will the future be like for our kids?”
Thierry, employee of Nestlé Watersat franceinfo
What worries Nestlé Waters employees the most is the future: the subsidiary of the Swiss company is the largest employer in the population area. To the point that the mayor of Contrexéville, Luc Gerecke, stepped up to the plate with our colleagues from France Bleu Sud Lorraine, on September 27. “We have never experienced this with the Nestlé company, says the councilor. All departure plans have been voluntary departure plans until now. This is a plan with outright layoffs. It’s a shock for the region.“
This social plan may also have consequences for companies in the region that work with Nestlé. “I have been a driver for seven years, we hope that it will be a yes for them and us too”, says Julie, employed in a transport company in Contrexéville. The town of nearly 3,000 inhabitants also risks suffering, estimates its mayor, Luc Gerecke. “When we have Nestlé employees who have good purchasing power, behind us we have traders who can stick out their tongues because it is a windfall that we will have to win back in other ways and through other populations.“
The objective of the unions: save all jobs
The unions’ plan is to convince management not to lay off anyone, which is possible for Stéphane Cachet, of the CGT and representative of the inter-union. “Nestlé management has an envelope of 60 million euros to finance this PSE (Job protection plan, editor’s note) for only 40 departures in early retirement, he explains. He hopes they will be completed “through voluntary departures or layoffs. Except that we, with this same envelope, we prove to them that we can achieve around a good hundred early retirement.” Nestlé management did not respond to franceinfo’s requests.
Negotiations between unions and Nestlé management are expected to continue until October 31.