2023-12-17 14:05:56
A gathering in Saint-Etienne following the call from the Casino inter-union, December 17, 2023. OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP
According to the prefecture, more than 2,000 people – employees, subcontractors, elected officials and residents of the region – demonstrated on Sunday December 17 in Saint-Etienne at the call of the Casino inter-union, to defend jobs and express their attachment to the emblematic brand of their city, in great financial difficulty.
The procession first gathered near the imposing headquarters of Casino, a long glass liner located opposite the TGV station, set off at the end of the morning towards the Loire prefecture, for a one-hour march to the call from the inter-union FO, CGT, CFDT, UNSA and CFE-CGC.
“We live by and for Casino. It could be a disaster.”fears Thierry Renaud, forty-year-old boss of a printing company that has been 80% dependent on the mass distribution group for more than three decades. “Everything has stopped, we no longer have any orders”he notes, while the city has been experiencing a slow economic hemorrhage for forty years.
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“Big impact” on surrounding communities
The unions had called for mobilization of Casino employees, subcontractors, “the population attached to the brand” et “the players and supporters of AS Saint-Etienne”. The football club, which was called the« Association sportive Casino » today plays in Ligue 2, far from the glory years of the Greens. The Geoffreoy-Guichard stadium is named after the founder of Casino.
“Today, we are expecting politicians, athletes, ordinary people, from the Saint-Etienne region and beyond”affirmed the CGT union delegate and spokesperson for the inter-union, Jean Pastor, Sunday morning on RMC.
Many local elected officials joined the parade. “Many employees live in the Forez plain [située au cœur du département]we do not yet measure the big impact that this will have on our communities”lamented the deputy of the neighboring village of Saint-Cyprien.
For months, the company’s unions have been trying to mobilize to avoid “a new Manufrance”. The liquidation of the mail order company in 1985 – almost a hundred years after its creation – left a bitter memory locally, as did, a decade later, the closure by the State of its military arms factory.
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