Illustration of Carambar. – Allili Mourad / SIPA
- Since the announcement, in November, of the closure of the Carambar plant in Marcq-en-Barœul, in the North, the walkouts have multiplied.
- The stocks of candy are decreasing from week to week, according to the unions.
- The employees denounce the loss of wages they suffer with the transfer of their activity to another factory.
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Employees hardly taste what they call “a bad joke”. Since November 12, 2020, the date of the announcement of the closure of the Marcq-en-Barœul plant in the North, walkouts have multiplied at Carambar. So much so that stocks of the famous caramel candy are drastically dropping, according to the unions. How did we get here ?
Established since 1899, the factory – which was initially a chocolate factory – had often changed owners, but never location. The famous joke candy has been produced there since its creation in 1954. It is therefore a page in the history of confectionery that is turned with this closure.
Eight kilometers between the two factories
The objective for Carambar & Co is simple: to bring together manufacturing on the Lutti site, acquired two years ago under the aegis of the Eurazeo investment company which brings together several confectioner brands. The level of production must remain the same and only eight kilometers separate the two factories, but it is the modalities of this “transfer” which set fire to the powders among the unions.
“It should have been a simple transfer, but the management took the opportunity to lower all salaries by almost 25%”, denounces David Pourre, FO delegate at Carambar. How? ‘Or’ What ? “The 114 employees of Marcq-en-Barœul are made redundant from the Marcq-en-Barœul site, then reclassified on that of Bondues, but with a new contract,” he explains.
As a result, negotiations on this closure plan, which must be effective at the end of the year, have stagnated for two months. “Every weekend, there is a strike movement because the management camps on these positions”, assures David Pourre. According to him, stocks of confectionery are dwindling from week to week because Marcq-en-Barœul is the only factory where these sweets are made.
Temporary degressive allowance
Are we heading towards a world without Carambar? “It will block as long as wages are not maintained, announces the union representative. A temporary degressive allocation has been proposed, but it is far from sufficient. “
On January 11, a mediation meeting was held with the labor management (Direccte) to try to break the deadlock. “After denying the loss of income of 22% caused by the transfer, the management of the group finally ended up recognizing a drop in wages in front of the representatives of the State, while continuing to minimize it”, indicates, in a press release , the deputy (LFI) of the North, Adrien Quatennens, who supports the employees.
According to the elected, “the director of the Direccte then deemed the level of the shortfall to be unsustainable and asked Carambar & Co to put in place a mechanism to compensate for this loss of salary”. Contacted by 20 Minutes, Carambar management did not follow up.
