At the reception of the Lada Resort, one of the best hotels in Togliatti, three clocks hang on the wall: one indicates the local time, the other two those of Paris and Tokyo. If this city of 700,000 inhabitants, 1,100 kilometers southeast of Moscow, is close to the major world capitals, it is because it has been home to the headquarters of AvtoVAZ since its creation in 1970.
More than a seat in reality: a gigantic car factory, which was one of the largest in the world under the USSR, now 68% owned by the Renault-Nissan alliance. Here, in this city renamed in 1964 in memory of the former Italian communist leader Palmiro Togliatti, Ladas are manufactured, since the legendary “Zhiguli”, and now also Renaults and Dacias, intended for the Russian market.
/2022/04/04/phpfhj7rJ.jpg)
But today, Renault, under pressure, wonders. And the city too. “We don’t know what the French are going to dolaments Zoulfia, storekeeper at AvtoVAZ, and of course that worries me.” Like many Russian women of her generation, this 40-year-old raises her student son alone. “I will have to find a second job in April and May”, she breathes. A few days ago, Zoulfia and her colleagues learned that the factory was going to be shut down again. With the sanctions, some components no longer reach the edge of the Volga. “We are forced to take our summer vacation in April”, plague Irina, a colleague of Zoulfia. Both said no. Life is too hard in Togliatti to sacrifice summer holidays, they explain. And too bad if their salary will be halved. They are used to it. They will manage.
The war in Ukraine has called everything into question. And seems to have broken a momentum that even the Covid had not managed to stop. Since 2017, AvtoVAZ had returned to profit. However, it was far from over when the Frenchman took control of the factory in 2012. “The facilities were in very poor condition.remembers Piotr Zolotaryov, a former union official who retired in 2017, after 33 years on the channel. Some machines dated from the beginning of the factory, the workshops were poorly ventilated, in the summer, we collapsed because of the heat. We were very far from European standards”, he explains. AvtoVAZ had attempted a first marriage with General Motors which had notably given birth to a strange car: the Chevrolet Niva. “The governor of the region had bought the firstrecalls Piotr laughing, when he came to take delivery, in front of the whole factory, the doors refused to close!” The American-Russian union collapses. The French will be the saviors of the Russian industrialist.
/2022/04/04/php8qX64p.jpg)
But the shock treatment is painful. In four years, the factory lost half of its 70,000 employees. “People were suspicious at first when the French management arrivedrecalls Leonid Emchanov, chairman of the independent union of AvtoVAZ. The first thing they promised is that there will be layoffs, but those who remain will be increased. Only, there was no real increase, just a few kopeks…” Unions are protesting at the time. But the management’s methods, inherited from the Soviet Union, are still extremely brutal. “While we were organizing a strike, I was kidnapped in the lobby of my building on my way to work, early in the morning”remembers Piotr Zolotaryov.
“AvtoVAZ security guards took us to the forest with a friend, and they threatened to attack us.”
Piotr Zolotaryov, retired trade union officialat franceinfo
Everyone agrees that corporate culture has changed since that time. And working conditions have improved. But life remains hard in Togliatti. Salaries are low, around 35,000 rubles a month (just over 370 euros). “It’s less than the Romanians at Dacia”plague Leonid Emchanov. “The French also sold the sanatoriums, kindergartens, holiday centers that we had”regrets the union leader. “The city has become impoverished since the arrival of Renault”analyzes Pavel Kaledine, a freelance journalist from Togliatti. “The factory got rid of socio-cultural facilities that the city does not have the means to maintain and develop. The French have changed suppliers, and subcontracting companies have had to close here.”
/2022/04/04/phpds8x8Y.jpg)
Irina observes the decline of the factory city: “This city was built thanks to AvtoVAZ. People came here to make money. But now it’s not worth it, you can find work elsewhere with better pay.” At the independent union, Alexander Kalinin, a machine operator, does the accounts: “More than half of the people I know at AvtoVAZ have a second job. They are taxis, delivery men…” In the city, advertisements for lawyers who offer to consolidate credits to deal with over-indebtedness flourish on bus shelters.
But it is also thanks to Renault that the group occupies a position of solid leader on the Russian market. The information according to which the French manufacturer could disengage from Russia worries everyone. “It is very painful to read that Renault is going to leave because they have done a lot of good for AvtoVAZ,” deplores Andrei Ivanoff, who runs a small paint company, supplier of AvtoVAZ, in the neighboring town of Samara. “I’ve already had to put five people on forced vacation. Out of 25 employees, that’s huge!”
“We don’t want the French to leave, even if they haven’t always treated us very well”tempers Anna Perova, who will retire after 32 years as a production operator. “Of course everyone is feeling bad todaycontinues this earthy woman who suddenly turns dark and chooses her words carefully. The events unfolding in Ukraine do not please anyone. The Ukrainians are under the bombs. And for us who are here, you see the consequences of this military operation.”
“We want this operation to end as soon as possible, for peace to return to Ukraine. And for us to be able to start working normally again.”
Anna Perovaat franceinfo
The calls for a boycott, the international sanctions that cut off the factory from certain essential components are not really understood in Togliatti. One of the few French people who are still there, Jordan Delafosse, sees this every day at the moment. “Many of my Russian colleagues feel they are being punished as if they have done something wrongsays this young engineer on assignment for a Renault service provider for almost three years. People who call for a boycott do not see the reality of what Renault is here. We produce vehicles for a category of people who are not particularly wealthy. And people here say to themselves: but in fact, you blame us? It is very difficult to admit and understand.”
His partner, Yevguenia Slabienko, has set up a small kindergarten with English language instruction. It is already feeling the first effects of the coming crisis. “Prices are going up on a whole bunch of productsshe explains, and some of my clients have financial problems. I’m afraid they’ll leave me because I’ll be one of the first expenses they cut.”
The couple is especially faced with an unforeseen situation. Jordan has just learned that the development projects he is working on are frozen. If he no longer has a contract, he will not be able to stay in Russia. “I have two children from a previous union who have very strong ties with their father.explains Yevgenia. And I am attached to my country. The thought of leaving my family breaks my heart. I’m in a personal conflict.” The young woman contemplates the future with concern. “I’m starting to realize that we won’t have good quality clothes for the kids anymore, maybe no more good quality food either.she says. When I see all these stores closing, it’s as if someone were saying to me: you’re no longer welcome. And I take it very badly.”