Liquidation of Holophane in Andelys: wages guaranteed until January, unions remain vigilant

2023-12-04 18:29:21

In Andelys (Eure), employees of the Holophane glassworks know a little more about their immediate future. As requested by staff representatives, the Évreux commercial court decided, Thursday, November 30, to only pronounce the judicial liquidation of the company from January 2, 2024, so that December salaries are not impacted by the procedure. Indeed, even if production had been stopped since February 2023, all staff had since benefited from the maintenance of their remuneration under a long-term partial activity agreement (APLD) financed by the State which will therefore last until this deadline. “We can announce that salaries for January are also guaranteed,” assures CGT elected official Franck Gérard, secretary of the CSE, leaving a meeting held this Monday morning with management, the current administrator and the future judicial liquidator. The dismissal of the 208 employees will officially begin in January with the sending of the first letters.

For his part, the prefect of Eure announced that he had requested the services of Bruno Lemaire at Bercy to set up “an exceptional system of individualized support for Holophane employees who will lose their jobs. This system will allow the implementation of the Major Redundancies Benefit (PGL) and the mobilization of the support and retraining fund for the automotive sector.” Concretely, as he explains, “in the coming weeks, each employee will be offered personalized support and reinforced monitoring for a return to employment. A support service will be deployed to support employees who may encounter financial, housing, administrative or legal, health difficulties or experience obstacles to mobility.

Franck Gérard has already been in contact with the mayor of Andelys, Frédéric Duché, the sub-prefect and various representatives of local authorities to discuss the modalities of the implementation of the reclassification unit. “There were a lot of commitments. Now we must translate them into action,” insists the man who has represented all of Holophane’s staff for many months at the heart of a complex procedure. “Even though there is strong mobilization around us, I cannot say today that I am optimistic. The average age here is high, at over 48 years old. With at least 20 years of seniority. And even if the skills exist, nothing will be easy for people who have only known Holophane in their career.”

The union representative is also vigilant about the way in which the cash, which he estimates at more than €6 million, and the assets (machines, molds, etc.) of the century-old glassworks will be used. “We are going to mobilize so that each employee can benefit from this money, part of which must return to them,” continues Franck Gérard who for the moment does not know what form this action will take. “But there will be one.”