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On the sidelines of the inauguration of the Gigafactory ACC in Billy-Berclau on Tuesday, a demonstration was organized by the CGT of Stellantis a few kilometers away, in the center of Douvrin, to say “No to the closure” of the heat engine manufacturing plant. According to the union, at least 800 jobs are threatened.
While ACC’s Gigafactoy was inaugurated with great fanfare by three French ministers on Tuesday morning, the neighboring site of Stellantis, formerly a French mechanic, risks closing within two years. In any case, this is what the CGT fears, which therefore organized a demonstration on the sidelines of the event.
More than 1200 people still work on the Stellantis site. An agreement has been signed, but it plans to reclassify 400 people within the Gigafactory. There will therefore be 800 people on the floor.
Fabrice Jamart, general secretary of the CGT Stellantis Douvrin
France Televisions
The procession brought together a good hundred people, and the message of the banner at the head of the parade is clear: “No to closure. Demand that our jobs be maintained at PSA Douvrin”. “We are not against the inauguration of the Gigafactory”, explains Fabrice Jamart, general secretary of the CGT PSA Douvrin, “but the problem is that our factory which is right next door is closing. More than 1,200 people are still working on the site. An agreement has been signed, but it plans to reclassify 400 people within the Gigafactory. There will therefore be 800 people on the floor.”
A hundred people marched against the closure of Stellantis Douvrin. • © Damien Deparnay / France Televisions
For its part, the government promises the creation of thousands of jobs thanks to the automotive industry’s shift towards electrification. An argument deemed inadmissible by Fabrice Jamart: “We are told about ecology, but the engines we manufacture here will continue to be produced in other factories in France and Europe. According to European law, we can continue to manufacture combustion engines until 2035, and since the average age of Stellantis workers is over 50, this could allow many workers to keep their jobs until retirement.”
In the demonstration, the workers of PSA Douvrin are accompanied by trade unionists from other factories in the automotive sector in the region, such as PSA Valenciennes or Toyota Onnaing. “We are all concerned by the attacks against the automotive industry, we must all defend ourselves together, collectively”, affirms Geoffrey Laloux, CGT staff representative at PSA Douvrin.
He has worked in this factory for 23 years, he is determined not to let it go: “Whatever the Gigafactory project, we have been with the Française de Mécanique for 10, 20, 30 or 40 years! We must not not suffer from the industrial strategies of the big bosses and the shareholders of PSA. We ask to keep a job and a decent future.”
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Stellantis workers gathered in front of the town hall of Douvrin. • © Damien Deparnay / France Televisions
Representatives of other professional sectors such as civil servants or teachers who are members of the CGT, as well as activists from La France insoumise and the Communist Party, also came to swell the ranks of the procession.
A shorter event than expected: the organizers wanted to go to the Gigafactory site, but the prefecture asked them to stop at the RN 47 bridge, 2 kilometers from ACC: “We were told that, of course, it was for our own safety ” quipped the CGT.