After weeks of waiting, the ax fell, showering the last slim hope of the former employees of the Aveyron metallurgy company (SAM), planted in the Les Prades industrial zone, in Viviez, on the heights of the Decazeville coalfield ( Aveyron). Matthieu Hède, the only candidate for the takeover of this definitively closed factory, announced that he was throwing in the towel on Monday July 18. The leader of MH Industries, a Lot-based group specializing in the manufacture of metal parts, was dismissed from Renault – SAM’s first customer – for the purchase of parts. “There was no possible scenario without the constructor. We had to convince him to start the recovery before we could do without it tomorrow », explains Mr. Hède this Wednesday.
If the proposal presented in April (8 million euros in turnover per year) seemed to satisfy him, the diamond group changed its mind two weeks later. “He no longer wanted to hear about the employees of SAM. For Renault, the foundry no longer exists,” reports Mr. Hède, who hoped, then, “that the government play its role of interlocutor. » Another reason that led him to give up taking over SAM: funding far from complete. “The amount, between 30 million and 45 million euros, was a concern. Because few financial organizations followed us on a risky subcontracting project. »
“It’s not disappointment. The word is not strong enough. It’s disgust, anger, reacts David Gistau, former production agent who joined the foundry in 1991, and former CGT member of the company’s social and economic committee. For some employees it is as if they were fired a second time. » The Toulouse commercial court had sealed the fate of this foundry on November 26, 2021, pronouncing the definitive cessation of its activity and the dismissal of 333 employees. The latter then occupied the factory for one hundred and fifty-four days before obtaining, under the aegis of the prefect of Aveyron, guarantees making it possible to avoid the sale of the machines by judicial agents.
“Our territory is gradually disappearing”
Ghislaine Gistau, former CGT union delegate, cannot recover. “I am disgusted. The government had the means to act and lo and behold, it lets the automaker act with impunity,” she castigates. At 45, this quality manager hired in 1998 is currently carrying out a skills assessment. “I am nostalgic for this company and the relationships forged with my colleagues. I need to open another page. I probably won’t work in the industry anymore,” she acknowledges.
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