THE transfer of Dijon work to Cambuslang with the loss of 600 jobs is
the worst-ever industrial closure in the French city and region's
history.
Last night, Les Depeches, Dijon's local paper, was preparing to devote
two pages to the closure. ''Everybody is appalled -- it is a catastrophe
which no one had expected,'' said journalist Martine Brunaut.
The town fears that up to 3000 jobs in local supply industries and
services may also be lost because of the closure.
The loss comes in the wake of two other blows for Dijon, which has a
population of 250,000 -- closure of a Phillips factory, which employed
200, and later this year, of SEITA, a nationalised tobacco company plant
with 400 workers.
Union leaders had expected Hoovre's Dijon plant to continue, with at
worst between 200 and 300 redundancies.
Representatives of the CFDT trade union held talks yesterday with
management in a bid to save the jobs. They then held an emergency
meeting with local authorities.
The Dijon Chamber of Commerce expressed surprise at Hoover's decision.
A spokesman said: ''We do not understand the decision. Dijon is a very
important central site in Europe -- only 500km from Frankfurt and 500km
from Milan.''
The head of the chamber's industrial development department, Mr Pierre
Desjardins, said there was ''a considerable feeling of bitterness'' in
the town, and added: ''The shutdown is going to be a huge loss locally.
We were not expecting it and everyone did everything possible for the
factory to continue working. The decision came as a great shock and is a
source of great sadness.''
The Paris office of the CGT trade union, which is close to the French
Communist Party, claimed it had written to STUC general secretary
Campbell Christie about the threat of closure on January 11, calling on
him to denounce Hoover's policy.
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