This Wednesday, September 30, the Commercial Court of Chalon rendered its judgment on the subject of Eolane. The Montceau-les-Mines company is placed in receivership. It is a shock for the 77 employees.
The Chalon Commercial Court delivered its judgment on Wednesday, September 30. The company is placed in receivership for a period of six months.
The procedure therefore delivers an observation period up to March 30, 2021, limited to November 19, 2020. The date of cessation of payment is set for August 8, 2020 (45 days retroactive). The court followed the requests of the management of Eolane during the hearing of September 24, where the judgment had been reserved.
“This judgment is outrageous”
Alain Schleich, secretary at the CSE, expresses his dismay at reading the judgment:
“The decision is brutal and unfair. It is a judgment of great lightness, which is not fair. We have reported all the aberrations that have marred the life of the company. Nobody checks anything. Everything we proved was not listened to. The judge should have pronounced a judgment with an additional investigation.”
The future is very bleak for employees. The trade unionist summarizes the schedule: “on November 19, very likely, the judicial liquidation will be pronounced, counting 3 weeks of delay to pronounce the dismissals, at the beginning of December everyone is dismissed.”
The secretary of the CSE had denounced the method of management to empty the company of its industrial tool and its activity. In summary, he finds that: “This judgment is scandalous. They have opened Pandora’s box, other large groups will be inspired by this and follow the same procedure to close sites.”
A capital audience
Thursday, September 24, at 10 a.m., many Eolane employees camein a work coat, before the Commercial Court of Chalon-sur-Saône.
Alongside them, sympathizers and local elected officials from the municipalities of Montceau-les-Mines, Saint-Vallier, Blanzy and Sanvignes came to support him.
For three years, the 77 employees of this electronic card company have been fighting to prevent the closure of their business.
The lawyer representing the CSE is Maître Ralph Blindauer (Metz). The latter is specialized in the defense of employees, he had defended the employees of TRW in Longvic in 2013.
The hearing promises to be crucial. The Commercial Court can direct its decision in two directions:
- be there legal liquidation of the Eolane site Montceau is pronounced, and according to Alain Schleich, secretary at the CSE, “We were finished in 3 weeks, dead on the spot. Employees will receive the legal minimum in terms of compensation with public money.
- either the court requests that the whole group is placed in compulsory liquidationand Eolane stops the procedure itself, or the court requests a new hearing with the representatives of all group sites by asking for an expert. In this hypothesis, Alain Schleich predicts “salary maintenance for a few months, and the possibility of negotiating severance pay, paid by the industrial group. »
In the eyes of the trade unionist, the “Strong link is the Public Prosecutor, he will judge the basis of the cases, and he says the right to the judge. He must be convinced of the unfair and abusive process. The group has no difficulties.”
The elected member of the Social and Economic Council of Eolane concludes: “I am worried about the other sites in the group, we feel that the management of the Montceau site is trying to play the gamble of filing for bankruptcy. I see two other sites which could be in the hot seat, i.e. around 400 jobs. “
Five representatives of the Eolane company were present at the hearing, in particular the CEO Henri Juin. They claimed there was no alternative to filing for bankruptcy.
At the end of the hearing, at 1.30 p.m., it was disappointing: the decision was put under deliberation on September 30 at 4 p.m.
Trade unionist Alain Schleich is very disappointed: “The Prosecutor did not ask for any additional information, no additional expertise. This is not a good sign.”
The employees have already planned to meet on October 1 at 10 a.m. in front of the company to discuss the court decision rendered the day before.
Multiple twists
Eolane is a company that manufactures electronic cards and employs 77 people.
Following the entry into the capital of an investment fund in 2017, a restructuring of the group is announced with a project to close the Montceau site.
A legal action delays this procedure, the employees save time. In addition, thanks to a resumption of orders, the closure is canceled in December 2018, as order prospects open for 2019.
But the specter of the site closing reappears in January 2020: a possible buyer of the site was looming in May 2020, but his action will not succeed.
In September 2020, the buyer withdrew definitively. And on September 21, the double announcement falls for the employees: no recovery possible and cessation of payment.
It is therefore the threat of judicial liquidation that now weighs on the Montceau-les-Mines site.
“An industrial group looted us”
Alain Schleich, elected to the CSE, summarizes the current situation: “All employees will be laid off, it’s hopeless. The factory is an empty shell. They removed the machines. An industrial group looted us.”
The elected representative wishes to draw the attention of national opinion to “the way the group organizes the looting of the AGS (Association for the Management of the Salary Claims Insurance Scheme which pays compensation to dismissed employees, editor’s note)”
“The company makes a profit by recovering the machines, has transferred them elsewhere in the group, and recovers the customers of the Montceau-les-Mines site and gets rid of 77 jobs. To file for bankruptcy, it must be proven that the site went to ruin.
“It’s absolutely dishonest”
Marie-Claude Jarrot, mayor of Montceau-les-Mines (DVD), will also make the trip to the hearing on Thursday 24 September. She does not mince words against the Eolane group: “The Montceau site is an integral part of the Eolane company. On the one hand, Eolane cannot make money on its other sites, and on the other hand, the Montceau site is drained without orders. This is absolutely dishonest, this operation is a criminal operation. »
Beyond the Montceau site, it is also to demonstrate that there is no fatality in this file that the elected official speaks out:
“If we don’t lead by example in this case in Montceau, it will certainly lead to other sites in the group. But the group is not in difficulty. He dried up the orders for Montceau. We have a determination to denounce criminal behavior, in relation to a business situation which is described and which is false.”
