MA France is a subcontractor of the automotive giant Stellantis. (AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO)
The equipment manufacturer MA France, the last automobile factory in Seine-Saint-Denis which employs 280 people in Aulnay-sous-Bois, and subcontractor of the automobile giant Stellantis, requested Monday its placement in compulsory liquidation.
“We had a big surprise this morning in court where we learned that they (MA France management, editor’s note) requested a judicial liquidation and not a judicial recovery”, explained to AFP a CGT union representative, member of the inter-union with FO and the CFDT
The Bobigny commercial court must rule on May 13 at 2:00 p.m. on a possible liquidation of the company.
“There is a very strong risk that the liquidation will be declared,” fears a worker from MA France. “The employees are in shock, we are taking the hit.”
Since April 17, employees of MA France, owned by the Italian group CLN (7,000 employees, turnover of one billion euros), have been on strike to save their jobs.
In difficulty for several years, the company stamps in Aulnay-sous-Bois, on the former historic PSA site, essential body and chassis parts for small Peugeot or Citroën utility vehicles, for Opel SUVs, and also for Renault.
This mobilization shut down three Stellantis factories for several weeks. That of Poissy (Yvelines) resumed production on May 2, but only partially. That of Luton (England) will resume on Tuesday and that of Hordain (North) on May 12, according to a spokesperson for the automobile group.
For the CFDT, MA France “had planned its move by transforming the request for judicial recovery into judicial liquidation without us being informed”, denounces the union delegate André Messi, present at the commercial court.
“Our company acted without taking into account human lives. We believe that the employees have been cheated. We do not want to be the turkeys of the joke, no one can leave with the minimum while we have sacrificed 20 years for the “company”, believes the union representative.
– Relocation to Türkiye –
The inter-union indicated that negotiations with management had ceased and that the supralegal compensation of 45,000 euros mentioned was no longer on the table.
CLN “observed that its Aulnay site was not competitive and proposed extra-legal conditions which were validated on April 30 by a majority vote of employees and supported by the two majority unions of the MA France company. A minority union (the CGT, editor’s note) prevented the return to work by carrying out intimidation actions against employees who voted to return to work”, deplores Stellantis in a press release.
“Faced with this situation, Stellantis has mobilized its internal means of producing stamped parts in its various French and European sites to supply and ensure the gradual restart of its three factories,” the press release continues.
The Minister of Industry Roland Lescure asked Stellantis and Renault, MA France’s two main clients, on Monday to support their employees.
“I expect that in the face of this difficult situation, the company but also the main clients will be able to contribute to supporting employees,” underlined Mr. Lescure on the sidelines of the signing of the automobile sector contract. , in Bercy.
Each of the 280 employees must be supported both regarding “social treatment” but also “support for requalification”.
Roland Lescure also directly accused “a minority trade union organization” at MA France – the CGT – of having “decided, by stopping work, to rush things”.
PCF senator from Seine-Saint-Denis Fabien Gay assures that it is Stellantis “which has a social responsibility by relocating the production of its parts to Turkey”.
“There is also a double discourse from the government in wanting to revive industry with electricity and at the same time to deindustrialize, particularly in Seine-Saint-Denis. Soon, we will no longer build any cars in France,” warns the elected official. who accompanied MA France employees to court on Monday morning.