Former SAM employees have lunch in the premises of the company in liquidation in Viviez, in Aveyron, on December 31, 2021 (AFP / Valentine CHAPUIS)
After Christmas, the SAM steelworkers spend New Year’s Eve in the factory they have occupied since the liquidation of this Renault Aveyron subcontractor at the end of November, trying to “forget” for a while the letters from dismissal.
“I’m laughing, I’m acting crazy, but it’s a mask”, confides to AFP Mimie Carles, 59 years old, including 34 at the Aveyron company of metallurgy (SAM), which employed 350 people in Viviez, in the former mining basin of Decazeville.
Busy preparing the broth for the traditional cheese soup, this pretty woman with graying hair finds it difficult to imagine her life without the factory, “because it is the work that saved me in the most moments. hard “.
At the entrance to the foundry, photos of some 350 employees line a wall.
“It’s a life project that is collapsing, it is our world that is collapsing”, says Stéphanie Latapie, 45 years old.
“I was proud to be able to raise my son on my own thanks to my work, I took a loan, I bought a house … And now what? Who do I turn to?”, Continues this busy solo mom. preparing a cheese board in the kitchen area in the factory.
They overcome their grief by swaying their hips to “Midnight Demons”.
– “And now we” –
At the entrance to the factory, a panel displays the menu: foie gras, fish, veal with morels and dessert, on tables decorated for the occasion, between the various machines of the foundry, some of which continue to run.
“All this is possible thanks to the multiple donations that we receive from the inhabitants of the basin, but also from associations or individuals from all over France, touched by our history”, indicates Ghislaine Gistau, CGT representative at SAM.
In the streets of Viviez, many residents have posted “Je suis SAM” on the windows of their houses or cars.
Installed in Viviez, on the heights of Decazeville, the SAM had been placed in receivership in December 2019.
Former SAM employees at the entrance to the liquidation plant they occupy in Viviez, Aveyron, on December 31, 2021 (AFP / Valentine CHAPUIS)
Before seeing his fate definitively sealed on November 26, when the Toulouse commercial court recorded the cessation of its activity and its liquidation after Renault’s refusal to support the only takeover project.
“To believe that it would be the + destiny + of our basin. Our minor grandparents, our steelworker parents have already experienced this. And now we …”, moved in a trembling voice Mrs. Latapie.
For more than a month, some 150 former employees have taken turns day and night in the foundry to “put pressure” on Renault in order to obtain their compensation and specific support measures, but also to prevent the machines from being sold. at auction.
They still hope that a new foundry will emerge in these same premises.
– “Not finished” –
“An act of resistance” which echoes the 66-day strike led in the winter of 1961 by miners protesting against the closure of the Aveyron surface mines.
“As long as we occupy the factory and we are together, it is because it is not over”, wants to believe Stéphanie Latapie.
“What I fear the most is the day when the factory will be closed definitively”, abounds Cathy Rodrigues, 58 years old, including 32 at SAM.
She feels “betrayed” and “thrown away like a mess” and only manages to console herself by meeting her ex-colleagues on a daily basis, at the usual working hours.
The New Year’s Eve menu for ex-SAM employees who occupy their liquidation factory in Viviez, Aveyron, December 31, 2021 (AFP / Valentine CHAPUIS)
This ritual “plays the role of a psychological unit, because most of the employees find it difficult to understand that they have been made redundant,” notes Ms. Gistau.
“Some even wanted to open their dismissal letters here at the factory. There were tears, it was very hard,” she says.
Julien Astié, 24, a maintenance employee, also imagined being able to make a living in his region, but “today, in the basin, companies that are closing are more numerous than those that are opening”, he regrets .
At aperitif time, a speaker emits “Resist” from France Gall, as a nod to the resolutions for 2022 of these Aveyron workers.
© 2021 AFP
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