Eric, steelworker, recounts the agony of the NovAsco factory in Hagondange

Eric Mussler is not the type to pour his heart out. When his colleagues, gathered in mid-November in a poorly heated union hall at the NovAsco factory in Hagondange (Moselle), talk pell-mell about strategy, upcoming demonstrations and jokes of all kinds, the fifty-year-old nods his head, sometimes flashes a smile. His voice, made hoarse by years of tobacco, resonates only to correct or clarify what he hears. In everyone’s opinion, he is the living memory of the special steel manufacturing plant, which is experiencing its final hours.

“I had a psychology teacher who told me one day: ‘we have one mouth and two ears, so we have to listen twice as much as we say'”he justifies. The imposing Hagondange factory also fell silent several weeks ago. Vertical casting, a true technological gem, the electric furnace which heated the steel to more than 1,700 degrees… Everything stopped one day in July. “We weren’t even warned. If we had known it was the last pour, we would have had a ceremony, we would have gathered,” confides with bitterness Nicolas Haettinger, operator at the steelworks and CGT union delegate.

When it was still operating at full capacity, however, the steelworks was so noisy that it almost deafened an entire generation of workers without hearing protection. “My father spent his entire career there. Now he has to turn the TV up loud to hear anything,” says Eric.

In the Mussler family, the steel industry is a family affair. First there are Eric’s two grandfathers, who worked on the site adjacent to the factory at the beginning of the 20th century. Almost nothing remains of the blast furnaces of that time. In 1985, a giant amusement park was created on the site of the industrial complex, in the hope of restoring oxygen to a territory devastated by deindustrialization. “I remember the plates with the factory’s image hanging on the walls of our grandmothers, it left an impression on me,” remembers Luc, Eric’s little brother, also a steelworker in Hagondange, always.

Their father had, long before them, joined the Hagondange factory in 1975, first in the rolling mill then in the forges, before joining the steelworks. From this time, the brothers remember the work anecdotes brought home. But the factory, for the Musslers, was never more than a simple livelihood. It is a place for sociability, meetings, and a way to go on vacation, too. “I did all my summer camps with the other workers’ children. In fact, since the age of 6, I have lived on the outskirts of Ascometal.” the old name of NovAsco, smiles Eric.

This immersion did not, however, give rise to a vocation. “Me, I will never do the three-eight”, he had convinced himself as a teenager, put off by these shift rotations. The young man instead began studying communication and human sciences. But ended up joining the factory in 1994. “I’m from Lorraine, it was quite normal to go and see what’s happening in the steel industry!” For thirty-two years, he held almost every position, obtained diplomas and progressed to management positions.

Not a little proud of his factory, he even showed it to his son, then 10 years old. “I felt like I was in Disneyland!” remembers Alan. A few years later, the young man also joined the site to do his apprenticeship, thus respecting the family tradition. “We sometimes met at lunchtime to have lunch together,” remembers Alan, now a trainer in the industry. However, there is no question of bringing the discussions from the factory home. “Especially when I was there, there were already problems, the atmosphere was not the best,” comments Eric’s son modestly.

“With my son, we avoided talking about the factory at home, it would have been a blow to our morale!”

Eric Mussler, steelworker in Hagondange

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During the five years of his apprenticeship, Alan witnessed the inexorable decline in production. In the good old days, Hagondange produced up to 460 tonnes of steel per day. Before it was shut down this summer, it sometimes had difficulty reaching the three tonnes per day. A multitude of factors are involved. First there was the subprime crisis (2008-2009), which weighed down orders. “There was a lot of technical unemployment at that time,” remembers Eric. A few years later, Covid-19, the energy crisis, the semiconductor crisis… “During the electricity price crisis, we started working in 12-hour shifts, it was very hard,” remembers Cédric Layouni, station manager at the steelworks.

Added to these cyclical elements were changes of direction at a frantic pace, further weakening the activity. “I went through four buyouts, four receiverships, only to end up in liquidation,” Eric lists. The factory went through a period “fixed”between 2006 and 2010, but the owner at the time, Severstal, a Russian group, ended up “breaking teeth on Western markets” and resell NovAsco to a pension fund. Less and less maintained over time, the production tools began to fail.

In 2024, it is the turn of the British investment fund Greybull to take the reins of NovAsco. He promises to invest 90 million euros if the State puts in 85 million. “I remember that with this buyer, he said to me: ‘that’s it, darling, I have work until I retire,’ says Eric’s partner, Nathalie. “I had hope, yes, while remaining very cautious,” tempers the workshop manager. History proves him right: “We started a project to develop a new activity, we made a huge hole in the ground of the steelworks, and it stopped there,” asserts Eric. If the State fulfilled its commitments, Greybull ultimately only paid 1.5 million euros before throwing in the towel.

In August 2025, NovAsco was placed in receivership, for the fourth time since 2014. Less than three months later, the Strasbourg court validated Métal Blanc’s takeover offer, at the same time recording the liquidation of the Saint-Etienne (Loire), Custines (Meurthe-et-Moselle) and Hagondange sites. From Monday, December 1, the day of Saint Eloi, patron of the iron and steel professions, nearly 450 employees of the Moselle site will receive their dismissal letter. For entry into force between the Christmas holidays and the New Year. “Great timing, isn’t it?” quips Eric.

“I’ve been hearing for years that it’s going to close. Now we’re there for real.”

Nathalie, Eric’s companion

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Faced with the distress of employees, the government announced legal action against Greybull, described as the buyer “thug”. Workers intend to join the fight, by increasing individual actions before the courts. Greybull says “to have honored” his obligations and says he is ready to explain them “legally”. So, to prepare for the battle, every day or almost, several dozen employees, like Eric, continue to meet at the factory.

But until when? The fate of the site is not yet known. “We were told about being placed under cover, we don’t really know what that means,” reports the fifty-year-old. A few kilometers away, the U4 blast furnace of the Uckange factory was transformed into a place to visit after its liquidation, a vestige of a time when the Fensch valley was prosperous. “I would be willing to do the same, I would even be ready to show people around on a voluntary basis,” confides Eric.

And for the seven years that separate him from retirement, there too, it’s a big blur. In the same sector, the nearest factory is in Luxembourg. Too far, in the opinion of NovAsco employees. “A friend offered me a job in the steel industry in Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille, but I’m a guy from the North,” launches the Mosellan, who has “always lived within a 15 kilometer radius”.

“What scares me the most is returning to a bland job. Once you have dealt with liquid steel at 1,700 degrees, you no longer have the taste for anything afterwards: everything looks like plastic toys.”

Eric Mussler, steelworker in Hagondange

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For Eric, as for his brother, there is a desire for change, for reconversion. “If I’m going to work at ArcelorMittal, but the global economy continues to derail, what’s the point? It’s too risky,” Luc anticipates. We must therefore find a new job and succeed in accepting the death of a sociability built through generations. So, Eric procrastinates: “The factory was a bit like a second family, we will already have to mourn.”