Manuel Valls has promised that Alstom would be “saved”. But the employees of the factory in Belfort, not have to not be lulled by beautiful words. Despite the assurances of the Prime minister on Sunday, they remain on a war footing. As they are since the 7 September, the day of the announcement of the transfer of 400 of the 480 workers on the nearby site of Reichshoffen in the Lower Rhine.
at the call of the inter-union CGT, CFDT, FO, CFE-CGC, all have plans to get together in front of the factory at 9.15 am before joining then the prefecture of Belfort, where the secretary of State for Industry, Christophe Sirugue, convened for 10 hours a work meeting, in the presence of trade union representatives and the president and CEO of Alstom Henri Poupart-Lafarge. What do you expect of this meeting ? A source close to the dossier provides :
“there will be announcements.”
The trade unions, and in particular Andre Fages of the CFE-CGC, do not see how the secretary of State could take the risk to go to the place without making any guarantees on the future of the plant. All that the folder has a character that is highly flammable and that the president, François Hollande, has personally committed to maintaining the railway operations of the factory in Belfort.
“We’re going to see what soup you are going to be, not eaten, but put back on the fire”, wants to believe Andre Fages. “We will see if there is concrete or if it is pre-election promises”, adds Philippe Pillot, delegate FO Alstom. “In this folder, there are the short-term to treat since it is after 2018 that we will have problems of workload, and the long-term, because there is nothing to say that the industry is saved.”
“The State must play its role”
For the time being, at Christophe Sirugue, it is radio silence. the secretary of State wishes to spare his effect. In the meantime, a few months from the presidential election and the parliamentary elections to come, the local officials are redoubling their initiatives to save the site of Belfort. The deputy mayor Damien Meslot, whose grand-father was a former welder at the plant, says it is ready to this that the mixed-economy company of the city contributes to the investment that would bring long-term solutions.
In a letter to Manuel Valls, Fabienne Keller, senator LR which brings together the elected representatives of the region, calls on the government to achieve an order of 30 new trains promised in the February 19, 2016 by the secretary of State for Transport, Alain Vidalies. “And we still have no news,” laments the former mayor of Strasbourg. The last week before the economic affairs commission of the national Assembly, Henri Poupart-Lafarge had made the observation that no order had been followed, despite the “promise” of the minister.
Fabienne Keller also argues for the renewal of the Transport of the balance of territory (TET) by the application of the procedure of framework contracts and not that of the tender, in order to avoid the loss of market to the benefit of foreign competition. These TET-provide inter-regional services. The senator justified :
“In these exceptional circumstances, the State has to play its role as strategist and to revive public order.”
Among the advanced solutions also include the construction of locomotives for the TGV Paris-Milan, the development of the rail and the revival of the contract Régiolis, consisting of the construction of the Train express regional (TER). “A thousand had been ordered but only 270 were made,” says Patrick de Cara of the CFDT Alstom. In front of the national representation, the CEO of Alstom said :
“In any case my interest is to push to force commands of trains by SNCF or the RATP, the trains that would rust I know not where.”
and Then he added : “The commands must respond to needs.”
Denis Demonpion
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