Demonstration in front of the Carambar factory, in Marcq-en-Barœul, in the North. – G. Durand / 20 Minutes
- The Carambar factory in Marcq-en-Barœul, in the North, is due to close its doors by the end of the year.
- The employees are contesting the social plan and have planned to attack it in court.
- They consider that it is about a transfer of activities which does not allow to lower the wages, as the social plan specifies it.
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A textbook case for the courts. Carambar employees, including the Marcq-en-Barœul plant in the North, is due to close by the end of the year, have planned to take the social plan to court. According to them, this is a transfer of activity, not justifying any dismissal.
This Tuesday morning must take place a new conciliation meeting with the Labor Department to find common ground. In the meantime, the Marcq-en-Barœul site where the famous caramel candies are made is slowing down. And stocks are running out.
Reclassification or transfer?
Why is this social plan so badly received? Initially, it is a classic industrial project. In November, the management of the company Carambar & Co announced the closure of the historic factory and the dismissal of 114 employees.
However, the project also plans to “reclassify” 105 employees at the neighboring Lutti site in Bondues, 10 km from Marcq-en-Barœul. Except that these proposals for “reclassification” is accompanied by a loss of salary of up to 22%, according to the unions who denounce a “sleight of hand”.
Indeed, still according to the unions, Lutti belongs to Carambar & Co and this “reclassification” is, in reality, only a “transfer of activity which must not give rise to redundancies”. What does the Labor Code say in this situation?
“Local relocation”
“It’s a kind of local relocation” quips Virginie Le Blan, lecturer at the Catholic Faculty of Law in Lille. For this specialist in labor law interviewed by 20 Minutes, “Everything depends on the financial arrangement of the company Carambar & Co and its legal ties with Lutti”.
Because in the event of reclassification from one company to another, “the one that takes over the employees can do so on its terms and, since 2017, the law has provided for the possibility for a company to negotiate with the unions the reduction of remuneration », Confirms Virginie Le Blan.
According to our information, the pay slips of Marcq-en-Barœul employees were made out in the name of CPK Production France, a subsidiary created by Carambar & Co. In Bondues, the salary will be paid by Lutti SAS. Two distinct entities, of course, but the same parent company. “In addition, all Marcq-en-Barœul machines must be transferred to Bondues to continue the same production”, specifies David Pourre, FO delegate.
Administrative and labor tribunal
“If we consider that this is a transfer of activity with a change of employer, in this case Article L1224-1 of the Labor Code effectively provides for the transfer of employment contracts, ”assures Virginie Le Blan. But other points must be raised to justify this plan, according to her: “Is competitiveness threatened or are there future risks in the confectionery sector? “
In any case, negotiations have stalled between elected staff and management. “We will go to the administrative court and each employee to the Labor Court to assert their rights,” says André Jorisse, manager (FO) of the works council.
For its part, the management of Carambar & Co remains unreachable.
At Carambar, the end of jokes was just an April Fool’s Day … in March
