Solvay: Call for demonstration to defend Gard industry

Devant les grilles de l’usine, plus d’une centaine de personnes se sont rassemblées. Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Ce jeudi 12 décembre, à Salindres, l’union locale CGT s’est rassemblée devant l’usine Solvay pour contester le projet de licenciement des 68 salariés au premier semestre 2025, dans le cadre d’une journée de manifestations partout en France.

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Strong wind in Salindres and thunderclaps on the bridge leading to the entrance of the Solvay factory. The white of the “Axens” flags contrasts with the red of the CGT. Protest operation on December 12 at the call of several unions, throughout France. In the Gard, the CGT is calling for a demonstration to defend employment in industry, threatened by numerous social plans. “Social gains that they want to take away from us“, stated Martine Sagit, general secretary of the local union.

“We knew from the start that it was over”

More than a hundred people are taking to the streets to protest the dismissal of 68 employees starting in 2025. In the background, the protest against the deindustrialization of the Gard, and the bitter problem of the eternal pollutants produced by the factory.

Asked about the possibility of maintaining jobs, Cédric Cozo, a union representative attached to the factory, is pragmatic: “We knew from the beginning that it was over. The soil is polluted, no one wants to take over from Solvay.” On the subject of the environment, “once we (the employees) have left, it will continue, but with fewer people“.

Marie Dufresne, general secretary of the union criticized the lack of state support for the Gard and French industry. Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

The trailer of a truck for a platform, many union representatives castigated the record of the former Barnier government. Marie Dufresne, the union's new secretary general who has been in office for two weeks, is furious: “We have to give ourselves the means to act. With or without Solvay, Salindres will survive. And the environment too!“