As the dismissal date approaches and negotiations are at a standstill, the employees of the weekend of Gima Beauvais took action this Monday morning, November 18, in front of their company. Using pallets and tires, they created a major traffic jam on Avenue Blaise-Pascal. A way to alert the population to their situation and put pressure on the company.
At mid-morning, the employees present still hoped to be able to continue their action in the afternoon and the following day. “We want to be heard. Since May we have been on the roundabout… The management was arrogant and threatening with us. They push us out», declared the strikers. For them, this punchy action had become inevitable. “We receive 70% of our salary and the guys are tired. They’re at their wit’s end. So to be heard we have to block.»
Pressure from the management of AGCO and Gima, with a bailiff
But here, always mid-morning, a bailiff mandated by the management of AGCO and Gima and came to observe the blockage. Although traffic on Avenue Blaise-Pascal had become fluid again. Éric Odievre and Arnaud Mouchy, human resources directors of AGCO and Gima respectively, then came to speak with the strikers to ask them to clear the road.
They gave them less than an hour to remove the pallets that were blocking the trucks bringing parts, otherwise the case would go to court. “We will file a complaint», Warned Éric Odievre several times.
After a period of consultation, the employees were not all in agreement. But, already in a precarious situation, they chose to clear the way. A bit of death in the soul. Disgusted, even, by the treatment of the company for which they have worked for 20 years for some. That, added to the pressures denounced internally to limit support for the strike movement. “Many support us but do not dare to come out because of threats of disciplinary sanctions», have assured the strikers for several weeks. Which agrees with several internal sources, who are not on strike.
