The last Lacroix bleach factory on strike for an indefinite period
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Threatened with closure, the last Lacroix brand bleach manufacturing plant in Francelocated near Lyon, has ceased production due to a strike by almost all employees, the unions indicated on Thursday.
The Cotelle company, belonging to the American hygiene and household products group Colgate-Palmolive, announced at the end of January that it intended to cease its activities at the Rillieux-la-Pape site (Rhône). It employs 104 employees, plus around fifteen temporary workers and manufactures Lacroix bleach, as well as cartons of fabric softener from the Soupline brand.
Unsuccessful negotiations
At the end of a negotiation meeting on Wednesday between staff representatives and management, “the Cotelle site is on strike for an indefinite period”, indicated the general secretary of the company’s CGT, Jean Martins. According to him, 96 of the 104 people working on the site joined the strike. “Management made us proposals that do not meet our expectations,” he said. “Negotiations are continuing despite this strike,” responded management, adding that two meetings are planned for next week.
At the start of the year, management had justified its decision to cease activities in Rillieux-la-Pape by a “structural decline in sales volumes of bleach-based products in France since 2018” and a drop in volumes. production “by 46% since 2007”, “despite 10 million investments made on the site between 2018 and 2023”.
Coming to support employees in mid-March, the Rhône deputy Alexandre Vincendet argued that the company had generated a profit of 1.7 million euros in 2022.
Threat of relocation
In a press release at the end of February, the company said it was considering “entrusting its European production of bleach-based products, currently produced on the Cotelle site in Rillieux-la-Pape, to the French and Belgian sites of a European manufacturer specializing in this domain “.
According to the unions, this is the British group McBride, specialized in cleaning products. “What we find doubly dramatic is that the productions would not even remain in the group” Colgate-Palmolive, which has another factory in France, in Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), deplored Michel Muzyczka, of the CFE-CGC.
Other factories, notably in Drôme and Charente, produce bleach, under other brands.
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