Visiting Toulouse, Bruno Le Maire expresses himself on the SAM: “It’s a failure”
Bruno Le Maire, present at the Futurapolis fair in Toulouse this Saturday, spoke about SAM, the Aveyron metallurgy company, whose closure was approved Friday by the commercial court. The Minister of the Economy recognizes it, “after two years of combat, it is a failure”. Maintenance.
The Minister of the Economy, visiting Toulouse this Saturday, November 27, answered questions from France 3 Occitanie, on the situation of SAM, the Aveyron metallurgy company whose closure was declared Friday by the commercial court of Toulouse, following Renault’s refusal to rely solely on the takeover project.
France 3 Occitanie: SAM employees are angry. What is your point of view on this file?
Bruno Le Maire: I hear the anger, the concern of the employees. We will not let them down. It’s a failure, SAM, I readily admit it to failure. For two years we have been fighting, with my teams from the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, to find a buyer who is solid and who does not sell wind to employees. And to end up with a liquidation at the end of the course, it is a failure.
Now what do we do? I think we have to look to the future. And that everyone exercises their responsibilities. The first responsibility is that of Renault. We will make Renault face up to its responsibilities. I will do so as a shareholder in the company and I will do so as a guarantor of economic public order. Putting Renault in front of its responsibilities means demanding that it support each employee. That it accompanies it with the necessary financial means, with reclassifications, with measures of training, qualification, that is Renault’s duty.
Then, the state also has a responsibility. And I don’t shy away from my responsibilities. My responsibility is to release resources from the emergency fund, from the transition fund that we have set up for foundries, because we have known for months that foundries will be facing difficulties. I created this fund of 50 million euros and we will take all the money necessary to provide support to each employee. If one wants to start his own business, 15,000 euros. One needs training, a qualification, 15,000 euros. Another will need travel assistance: 5,000 euros. All the necessary funds will be released for each of the employees, so that they can find a solution to their difficulties.
Finally, the collective responsibility, that of the unions, of the State, that of course of the local elected officials that I am ready to receive when they wish, is to invent the industrial future of the SAM site. It is not because SAM is closing that the industrial site has to close. We can find solutions to give an industrial future to the SAM site. It is also to fight for industrial relocation in the Decazeville basin. I am ready to make every effort so that this large industrial basin, which is a national source of pride, which is inscribed in French industrial memory, can have new industrial activities. These are the commitments I make. But once again, I measure the anger of the employees, the despair of the families. For some, it’s a part of their life that goes away, that is affected, but my responsibility is to look ahead, not to make false promises to one or the other, and to build an industrial future for the to place.
Everyone will be free to choose. It is not the same to be 28 or 29 years old, to start on an industrial site, not to be an owner and to be 52 or 53 years old, to have already grown children, to have bought your own. house, and to have drafts to pay. You have to be as concrete as possible and look at human situations. If some can leave to take a post further, because they can do it, on aid, including financially. But for those who want to stay, solutions will have to be found on the site and in the Decazeville basin. I am not explaining to SAM employees that everyone will have to find a job 50, 100 or 200 kilometers away.
France 3 Occitanie: Employees have the feeling that Renault could have made an effort, this is what the commercial court was asking for. Why could it not be done? We are closing a new industrial site, we are not reindustrializing, in concrete terms …
Bruno Le Maire: When you look globally, nationally, you’ve had 660 relocations in the last few months. Which represent 75,000 jobs saved or created. Each time, I fought. I said no, for example, to the relocation of Ascoval, in the North. It did not take place. We have new industrial chains being created. Look at the opening of the A Neo321 production line in Toulouse, no one should develop that Airbus could redevelop its industrial capacities so quickly, during the crisis. It’s done, so I think we have to keep a fair and comprehensive view of the situation.
This does not take anything away from the harshness of what the SAM workers are experiencing, but I still want us to have a more global vision, which shows that industrial reconquest is underway, that it will succeed and that we are going there. to arrive.
Regarding the SAM site, the question was that of the buyer. I would have liked to find a solid buyer, committing to several years, making it possible to guarantee the future. We cannot live from day to day, with fear in our stomachs that the next day, again, there will be an industrial accident and difficulties, it is not serene for employees to ask themselves every day: “Is my box will hold? “.
There, we arrived at the end of the research, it is a failure, but I think that now, it is necessary to look towards the future.
France 3 Occitanie: What concrete leads do you have?
Bruno Le Maire: I am not giving you the concrete tracks today, I say it very sincerely, we can work. We will multiply our efforts in the following weeks, I think it is important that we discuss with the trade unions and with the local elected officials whom I invite to come and talk about it with me and with Ms. Pannier-Runacher who is responsible for industry in my department, so that we can jointly look at the various options on the table. We are facing a technological and ecological transition that is disrupting many things. We must support this transition. On the SAM site, there were some parts that were made for electric motors but it was 10% of the market share and turnover. It was not enough to build capacity over the long term. Try to find a solution to develop this know-how and these capacities over the long term.
There hasn’t been enough investment on the site in recent years. This lack of investment and the acceleration of the transition regarding this result. I don’t want us to relive the same thing. My responsibility as Minister of the Economy is now to invent with local players the industrial future of the SAM site.
Taken over in 2017 by the Chinese group Jinjiang, the Aveyron company of metallurgy (SAM) had been placed in receivership on December 10, 2019, then, on September 16, in liquidation.