Despite the liquidation of SAM, the former employees of this Renault Aveyron subcontractor want to continue to put pressure on the government. They are organizing a demonstration in Paris on Wednesday in front of the Ministry of the Economy. Three buses, or more than 160 employees, will make the trip from Decazeville. A collective bus which defends the “Tous ensemble” basin has also been chartered. The appointment is given in front of the ministry, in Bercy, at 12:30 p.m. Representatives from the entire industry should join Sam’s employees since 52 CGT federations are also calling for the rally.
Feeling of abandonment
This trip to Paris, with 8h or 9h by bus, it is a way of increasing the mobilization for David Gistau, CGT representative of Sam. The employees believe that the State has not done everything possible to avoid the closure of the site. The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, however, pledged not to “not to let down the employees”. But employees have a completely different feeling, especially when they learn that nothing is moving for supra-legal bonuses or by receiving reclassification proposals at the other end of France. “They are abandoning us, so we are going to go see them. We have to shake them up and show them that we will not let go. We will also show them that it is not only us who are concerned but all the entire basin” says Mimi, who has worked for the foundry for 34 years.
Short meeting with the project manager
This Tuesday, the employees had an appointment with the Responsible for the Region and the State supposed to work on a reindustrialization project for the site. “We got angry“loose Ghislaine Gistau”no one comes to see us after 50 days without a concrete proposal “. The project manager actually considered that no viable project was emerging for the moment to replace the SAM foundry. The employee delegation left the meeting table after ten minutes. The 200 employees gathered in front of the house of industry waited in vain for the project manager.
Factory still busy
Taken over in 2017 by the Chinese group Jinjiang, the Aveyron company of metallurgy (SAM), was placed in receivership in December 2019, then liquidated a month ago. The commercial court had considered that the potential buyer did not have sufficiently solid files since Renault refused to support him. Since the 333 employees take turns day and night in the foundry to prevent machines from being auctioned off. The ex-employees mobilized still hope that a new foundry will emerge in these same premises.