25 years ago, Renault announced the closure of the car factory in Vilvoorde: “Facts fait accompli, was very brutal”

Although there are rumors on February 27, 1997, the announcement comes as a big surprise. “That was a terrible day for the workers,” Karel Gacoms, who was then a representative of the socialist trade union ABVV, told Radio 1.

“The closure was totally unanticipated, a few years earlier we had stolen an important agreement on flexible working. We had also received a new assembly line in exchange, which was a major investment. The company was profitable and our workers were flexible and productive .”

“There were reports that she could close a certain location, but nobody thought it would be Vilvoorde,” Gacoms continues. “We expected it to be a branch in Spain or France, but the ax fell on Vilvoorde.”

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