The Minister Delegate for Industry, Roland Lescure, went there on Monday, while the Nestlé group announced the suspension of activity on the production site at the beginning of March.
It alone symbolizes the recent setbacks of the Nestlé group and its Buitoni brand. The Caudry factory, in the North, produced frozen pizzas from the Fraîch’Up range suspected of having caused the death of two children last year. This health scandal had caused the closure of the factory in March 2022. Despite the partial reopening of the production lines in December after authorization, Nestlé decided last week to suspend activity. The agrifood giant cites sluggish sales and a “deterioration in the outlook for orders“.
The 200 employees, supported by local elected officials, implore Nestlé not to proceed with the final closure of the factory. All meet this Monday in front of the gates of the site to make their voices heard. The mayor of Caudry believes that Nestlé could “substitute another product for the production of pizzas», arguing that this «global group” accomplished “billions in profits“. He sent a letter to Nestlé, co-signed with the regional president Xavier Bertrand, in which they ask the group to quickly communicate its “real intentionsfor the plant.
Months of uncertainty
The Minister of Industry Roland Lescure goes there this Monday to discuss with the employees, the elected officials, but also to negotiate with the management. “There is no reason for employees to be the collateral victims of a health scandal that occurred a year ago“, he declared on Sud Radio before taking the road to Caudry. “I expect the management (of the factory, editor’s note) to make proposals“, added Roland Lescure, seeming to agree with the opinion of local elected officials. “Nestlé is a large group that invests in France and I hope it will continue to do so“Defended Roland Lescure.
Among the 200 employees whose jobs are now seriously threatened, “many are devastated“, Recounted a union representative ten days ago. Another said: “I think it’s over”, a sign of the desolation that reigns among the workforce, after months and months of uncertainty and several dozen positions already cut. The employees of the factory should be fixed on their fate before next March 30.
The Minister will also visit the Tereos factory in the North on the same day, which is also threatened with closure. “At this point, a company that makes money closing a factory, I think it’s not normal“, he judged on Monday.
TO HAVE ALSO – E. coli bacteria: Nestlé announces the suspension of the activity of the Buitoni factory in Caudry