Ministry of Labor appeals extension of asbestos plan – 02/07/2018

The CGT has just learned that the Minister of Labor waited until the last day to appeal the judgment of the Administrative Court of Bordeaux.

After the liquidation of Metal Aquitaine on June 5th and the dismissals of the last thirty-eight employees, this is a new blow for the old factory Fumel. It was learned this Saturday morning, indeed, that the Ministry of Labor had appealed the judgment of the Administrative Court of Bordeaux which extended the asbestos plan to the Fumel plant, between 1998 and 2012 (1). 19659005] "The ministry waited until the last day, June 26, to appeal the decision, thank you Macron!" Says Jose Gonzalez, representative of former employees of the plant, and CGT delegate of Metal Temple Aquitaine until 2015.

In the roofs, furnaces, pipes

Initiated by the CGT representatives of the plant staff in 2015, the extension of the asbestos plan for the period 1998 to 2012, which allowed exposed workers to retire earlier and benefit from the ACAATA scheme (Allowance for the cessation of activity of asbestos workers), had been validated by the Administrative Court of Bordeaux last April. The judgment was based in particular on numerous expert reports showing that despite asbestos removal obligations made to the owners and successive shareholders of the plant since 1997, asbestos remained present at the plant, at least until in 2012, in roofs, ovens or cooling ducts

65% of gross wage

The decision of the administrative court of Bordeaux in April allowed, in effect, all employees who worked at the plant between 1998 and 2012 to file a case file. If the application is accepted, these asbestos workers can receive 65% of their gross monthly salary.

Me Macouillard who represents the interests of employees exposed, said, in an email sent to José Gonzalez on Thursday: "The The appeal is theoretically not suspensive so that the Minister retains the obligation to extend the registration period of Metal Temple Aquitaine. "And to add that, in practice, the Minister may also ask to suspend the procedure, or even wait for the judgment on appeal to execute it. Anyway, according to the lawyer, "it will be necessary to wait" still at least a month "to launch the procedure requesting the execution of the decision" of the administrative court.

For Nicolas Narice, delegate CGT de Metal Aquitaine, liquidated at the beginning of June, "it is a scandalous but not surprising decision on the part of this government. In Fumel, the employees of Metal Aquitaine have the double penalty: not only they are fired but in addition, they are denied what they are entitled to ".

" We are not going to die in silence "

38 employees dismissed from Metal Aquitaine on June 5, 9 to 10 of them were eligible now for early departure. Most others can also claim this device.

"The ACAATA device allows exposed workers to leave earlier because we die earlier when we were working asbestos," says Nicolas Narice. "But we are not going to die in silence."

Trade unions, former employees and the Cerader badociation, which defends workers exposed to asbestos, must meet quickly to decide on a mobilization action.

(1) The asbestos plan already allows employees who worked at the plant until 1997 to apply for the Allocation of Asbestos Workers Abandonment Allowance (ACAATA)