More than 800 plaintiffs, eight hours of oral argument, lawyers on stage and 400 spectators… This is a hearing outside the norm, which took place on Thursday at Amiens.
No fewer than 832 ex-employees of the factory Goodyear Amiens North have attacked their former employers to tribunals – relocated to the exhibition centre for the hearing – dismissal without serious cause in 2014. This year, Goodyear announced the closure of the plant, resulting in the disappearance of 1 143 jobs.
“record Profitability” for the lawyer of the employees
In its argument, a long four hours, the lawyer of the 832 employees attempted to demonstrate that their layoffs were abusive in the light of the results of the american group which belonged to Goodyear Dunlop Tires France.
READ ALSO >> “Termination of employment, or divorce, even of trauma”
“Explosion of the profitability”, “record profitability”, “numbers increase” : as he was nicknamed, “the lawyer red” insisted that the group had registered a net profit of $ 2.5 billion after tax, “the most colossal ever displayed by Goodyear since its inception.” It was based on a report by Goodyear to the constable of the u.s. Stock market.
“with this action of closing, we will improve our operating income in the Europe zone to the tune of $ 75 million (dollars) a year,” reflects the lawyer of a document in the direction of the time, the center of the stage-lit the Zenith, where about 400 people attended the hearing.
“It is not allowed to dismiss employees in order to improve its outcome, it is forbidden !” is met with the lawyer, a leading figure fighting against the big multinationals. In the Face of the four advisors prud hommaux, he denied any “threat to the competitiveness.”
READ ALSO >> Benefits of layoffs: what are the changes for the employee (and the company
“We wanted to do things right.”
The three lawyers in the directorate have taken the exact opposite and four hours during also, argued on the difficulties plaguing the plant since 2007. It was, according to them, in a situation of “an enormous deficit compounded by the “severe crisis” of 2009.
“We wanted to do things well in terms of reclassification, with 300 positions, including 55 in Amiens-Sud (…) on the other side of the street,” he added, eliciting a few whistles and laughter yellow in the room. “We are aware that a dismissal, it is a difficult decision, we have not taken lightly.”
READ ALSO >> When the dismissal of an employee haunts the nights of a DRH
According to the prefecture of the Somme, 640 jobs have already been created in the framework of the convention of revitalization of Goodyear-Amiens North of 914 jobs scheduled, stating that the actions of revitalization, have been funded to the tune of € 5.9 million by Goodyear Dunlop Tires France.
Forum social
many of the former employees were of course present, but not only. Activists CGT in the region, nurses on strike at psychiatric hospital Pinel neighbor, postal workers in strike of the Hauts-de-Seine and workers of the Ford factory near Bordeaux, Philippe Poutou, were also on site.
READ ALSO >> France loses most of the plant from 2016
“The battle of Goodyear must be used to a thing: that one can oppose to a multinational company”, has launched Mickaël Wamen, ex-leader of the CGT in the plant, calling it a “convergence of struggles”.
It is part of the seven former employees who have been definitively sentenced in January by the supreme court to a suspended sentence for having kidnapped for two ex-leaders of the plant, after the announcement of the closure.
Read our complete file
Goodyear Amiens-Nord, arm wrestling and social justice
Sequestration in Goodyear: a laid-back and seven stayed for the ex-employees appeal Trial of the ex-Goodyear: the prosecution is not requires more than prison, “Relax our comrades”: the ex-Goodyear give the voice before the trial
The management of the company says that 346 million people have found work, 102 started their own businesses, 188 have retired and 189 have “left the leave of reclassification” after “skills formation”.
