“No question of there being a single layoff”, reacts the CGT of Loiret

The CEO of Thomson Computing proposed on Wednesday a project to take over the Brandt site in Orléans. But he would only keep 150 of the 700 employees. “We are far from the mark,” warns the CGT

On Wednesday December 24, industrialist Stephan Français, CEO of Thomson Computing, proposed a project to take over the Brandt site in Orléans (Loiret). It plans to take on 150 employees at the Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle site, in Loiret, by redirecting activity towards IT. The household appliances group was placed in liquidation on December 11.

“We are not at all satisfied with the announcement that Thomson Computing would only keep 150 employees out of the 700 in the Brandt group,” reacts Wednesday on franceinfo Pascal Sudre, CGT departmental secretary for Loiret. For the trade unionist, it is not “No question of there being a single layoff, let alone hundreds: we are far from it.” The departmental secretary of the CGT assures that he “We need time to study this proposal carefully” and declares that he has “asked the regional prefect for a round table in the Loiret with all the stakeholders concerned including local stakeholders, local authorities, the CGT, the Minister of Industry”.

Pascal Sudre “asks that Minister Sébastien Martin come to Orléans to meet all local stakeholders and make commitments”. He also wants the prefect to put “under cover the production tool in the two factories of Loiret and Loir-et-Cher because if the liquidator intended to recover all the machines, there would no longer be a viable project since there would only be the walls”, underlines the CGT delegate.

After the presentation of the project to take over the Brandt site in Orléans, the Minister of Industry Sébastien Martin called for “the rigorous assessment of the solidity of projects and the examination of all options in a spirit of responsibility”, in a press release sent to France Inter. “Any avenue for recovery deserves to be examined carefully, but none can be taken for granted without in-depth analytical work,” warned the minister.