Industry minister to meet protestors
Christian Estrosi will meet workers of a bankrupt car parts firm after they called off threats to blow up their factory
WORKERS at a bankrupt car parts firm who were threatening to blow up their factory with gas if they did not receive large pay-offs, have agreed to remove canisters and meet with the industry minister.
The 366 workers at the New Fabris factory at Châtellerault, near Poitiers, were asking for €30,000 compensation each for the closure of the factory – or they said they would blow the building up with gas canisters they had stacked around it.
The CGT union representative for the factory, Guy Eyermann, said: “Negotiations are blocked, so we decided to make a big effort by removing the canisters to show that we are not hooligans, show our goodwill and to get things moving.”
Now Industry Minister Christian Estrosi is to meet with workers from the three unions involved, CGT, CFDT and FO, “at their request and because they have renounced violence.” The meeting will take place tomorrow at the Finance Ministry along with the prefect and local councillors.
The workers had been demanding pay-offs from Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroën, the factory’s main clients. The firms said they had no obligation to compensate the employees, but offered to buy back all stock, which would allow for payments of up to €6,600.
Photo: www.nice.fr
