Here, we make watch straps that are worth more than an iPhone. Some coins even go up to 10,000 or 15,000 euros. Hand sewn, the models then go to “Cartier, Rolex or Patek Philippe”, proudly recalls Laurence – the first names of the employees have been changed -, a former member of Camille Fournet, a subcontractor of major watch brands located in Tergnier, a small rural town in the Aisne.
Laurence is 40 years old, two small children, a husband unemployed for six years, and was fired a few months ago. Like Marine, ” the fifties “, also fired, even though, she says, she was on sick leave. In total, 14 workers from this workshop, which almost only employs women, paid at the minimum wage or a little more, have been made redundant since the summer of 2020, or 6% of the workforce.
However, the company, like others in the region, was selected to receive a subsidy of 500,000 euros as part of the recovery plan under “support for industrial investment in the territories”. Camille Fournet, who suffered a “Drop from 30% to 40% of its activity” during the first confinement according to its deputy general manager Jean-Yves Basin, affirms that the money will allow it to modernize to halve the time of manufacture of the bracelets and to recruit “30 term employees”. But the operation is difficult to pass at ” girls “, as they say.
“It disgusts me that Camille Fournet is dismissing when they receive state aid, gets carried away Marine. There was no quid pro quo. I thought luxury worked well. I’m angry, they kicked us out without even looking at our family situations. “ On the day of her dismissal, Laurence worked all day. “At 5 pm, they called me and said ‘you don’t set foot in the workshop anymore’. They just told me that the orders had gone down. They changed the parking lot codes so that we couldn’t go back in, they were afraid that we would break everything. “
Misunderstanding and indignation
Among the dismissed workers, some want to go to industrial tribunal. Local elected officials are cautious. For the small municipality of Tergnier, the presence of Camille Fournet is essential. It is one of the biggest employers in this working-class city with red brick houses, which has seen one factory after another go. “ I don’t want to shoot a local business, there is a job at stake ”, admits Aurélien Gall, deputy mayor in this communist city where Marine Le Pen came out on top in 2017, as in all the surrounding municipalities. “Besides, cities have little room for maneuver”, he sighs.
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