The green solution is in the hands of workers. The state, for the image, wants to
close the coal plant; the employers, cynical, are only interested in the publicmoney which they could touch... As for the employees, they and they fight hardfor an ecological reconversion of the site, as well for the employment as for theenvironment . ---- From the 2017 presidential campaign, Macron wanted to presenthimself as a savior of the environment. And we can say - without a bad pun - thatthe climate was conducive to it: between a narrow-minded Trump who renounced theobjectives of the Cop21 and a Merkel relaunching its coal industry, the Elyseesought to gain international credit with blows of "Make our planet great again"... which we have seen that it boils down to communication.It is in this context that Macron announced, the day after his election, theclosure in 2022 of the four French coal plants, without any alternative to thedismissal of thousands of employees. Among these plants, already in slow motionand responsible for a small percentage of the country's greenhouse gas emissions,is that of Gardanne, in the Bouches-du-Rhône.This "Provence thermal power station" owned by GazelEnergie - behind which wefind the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky - employs 174 people. To which mustbe added 1,000 indirect jobs in the region (subcontracting, supply) and thousandsmore across the country, which would be threatened by the closure of the plant.In December 2018, the employees called a renewable strike with their CGT union.It is the beginning of three years of struggle linking walkouts and occupations,until today! They then demand a moratorium "inorder to give themselves time tofind solutions for the future for responsible coal mining and the establishmentof additional means of production to meet the needs of users and industry" .Workers want to produce energy that is cleaner and more accessible.Indeed, access to energy is a matter of human rights. It is an issue of struggleat a time of liberalization which leads to insecurity and rising prices. Theprivatization of dams, the opening up to competition of EDF or the Herculeproject[1]are examples of this.It took a court decision to force GazelEnergie to communicate to the CSE thefigures necessary for a feasibility study on the alternative project carried bythe CGT.Management sabotages alternative projectAt the end of 2019, tripartite discussions began between the CGT, the State andGazelEnergie. Although the employees accept the principle of a biomass activity,the State stands on the only valid solution in its eyes: closure. As for themanagement, contemptuous, it sometimes does not even come to meetings. "Go toEnedis", balances in January 2020 the CEO, Olivia Levasseur, on the picket linewhich calls out to her.At the same time, management torpedoed the plant's reconversion project carriedby the union. She refuses to finance the pre-feasibility study of the project, upto 400,000 euros, while she is not embarrassed to pay 1 million euros for asafety box, under the pretext of protecting the tool from job. A court decisionwill be required to oblige GazelEnergie to communicate to the CSE and to theexperts the documents necessary for the study.However, the reconversion possibilities are varied and ambitious: methane andhydrogen gasification units, capture and then reuse of smoke emissions, sortingand recycling of industrial waste... At a time when the government announces itsintention to massively fund innovation and ecological research, he refuses anexperiment on the existing one, which would generate jobs!While a study confirming the viability of a retraining falls in September 2021,the first consequences of the dismissal plan are being felt. On October 8, ageneral blackout affected the coal section: the maintenance staff having beenmade redundant a month earlier, it was impossible to troubleshoot!The biomass section is also impacted, demonstrating the hypocrisy of themanagement who sees it as the only future of the site. Faced with incompetentemployers who endanger both residents and employees, the latter have triggered aplacing "under protection" of the Seveso classified site, by occupying it.This does not prevent GazelEnergie from signing an agreement for a hydrogenproduction project, backed by 400 million euros in public subsidies, or fourtimes more expensive than the CGT project for the same number of jobs!The subcontracting employees involvedThroughout the mobilization, inter-professional unionism was at work since notonly the UD-CGT of Bouches-du-Rhône was very involved, but also other employeeunions impacted by the disappearance of coal activity.Under the impetus of the CGT union, recently re-elected at the head of the CSE,the Association of Workers of the Gardanne Central (ATCG) was created. Groupingincluding the employees of the subcontracting, the ATCG made it possible, inDecember 2020, to complete the financing of the studies while making known thefight of the Gardannais. Ultimately, the association aims to create a cooperativesociety of collective interest (SCIC) which will implement the industrial projectand operate it according to social needs.A perspective that contrasts with all the low blows experienced by the strikers:intimidation, lies, summons to court, police custody and even an attempt tosearch the union premises ... the list is still long, but it was not enough.start the determination of the workers! Because these are also three years of ahuman, militant and fraternal adventure. From the installation since 2018 of the refreshment bar (cleverly called LeMoratoire) to the guard towers for the current occupation, through the manypickets and regional gatherings: the fight of the Gardannais has becomeemblematic of social struggles in the Bouches-du-Rhône!While the farce of the Cop26 and its insufficient commitments come to an end, theconflict of Gardanne recalls the importance of articulating ecological measureswith social necessities and with the class struggle.Anthony (UCL Aix)To validate[1]"Hercules transforms EDF into a three-headed hydra", Alternative libertaire,March 2021 .https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?La-solution-ecologique-est-entre-les-mains-des_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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