Faced with soaring prices, the Cofigeo group chose a radical solution, closing its four most energy-intensive sites for a month, accompanied by partial unemployment. In Aveyron, the Soulié restoration, which employs 130 people in Rodez, was spared. But not the 210 employees of Raynal and Roquelaure, who worry the traders of Capdenac-Gare.
On Tuesday 3 January 2023, a beautifully decorated Christmas tree still welcomes the rare visitors who cross the secure gate of the Raynal et Roquelaure company, in Capdenac. Damien Boutet, the director of the site, tries to joke: “We are not in complete darkness.” For a company that shut down its production line the day before, that’s the least we can say. It’s true that two successive pay hikes and the long-term partial operations deal signed in the fall helped digest the company’s 210 employees (see box).
Close a month to save money, they had never seen that. “Even during the Covid crisis we remained open”, confides Béatrice Guitard, who has been with the company for 20 years. At the support service where she works, she fares no worse with five days of partial unemployment in a month. In the packing and shipping dock where stocks of prepared meals are loaded, it’s a little more. So the parking lot is far from full. Apart from the one hundred workers dedicated to manufacturing, there is still a huge deficit of shops, outside the artisanal area.
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The closure of the factory, the first since 1905
“So much the better if they treated well. But he’s been dead for two days for bread, pastries, snacks, at all levels”, sighs Samuel Chabbert who sees many Raynal and Roquelaure employees pass by in normal times. In the middle of the galette des rois season, it’s a big blow for him who has been working at a loss for two or three months… “For the same reason as home: the cost of energy and the increase in raw materials”, explains the baker who was unable to pay his salary this month and was even forced to make a personal transfer to the company account last month. Amaro observes that the state helps both large and small, but not small bosses who, like him, employ between 8 and 10 employees.
The same concern at the Café de Paris which has had fewer people for two days. The boss makes a good heart against bad luck. “I wish them to get back to work in February. Otherwise we will have to find solutions and adapt.”
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In Capdenac-Gare, Raynal et Roquelaure has been considered the flagship of the city’s economy since Théophile Raynal opened the Station Buffet in 1876. Collaborating with Ernest Roquelaure, he invented a concept that has continued to be successful since the opening of the first factory in 1905. The current closure, even partial, is a first. “The goal is for it to last as short a time as possible”, promised Mathieu Thomazeau, the president of the group, on 6 December. It is still necessary for large and medium-sized stores to agree to share the burden of price increases. Negotiations in this direction continue. If they succeed by the 23rd, Raynal and Roquelaure could reopen on January 30th.
Unions: “Excellent agreement”
Faced with the surge in the energy budget from 4 to 40 million euros, the Cofigeo group, which specializes in ready meals, very early sounded the alarm at the four sites that are expected to close for at least a month in January 2023. a method that has allowed to the social partners to anticipate the situation, especially in Capdenac-Gare, cradle of the Raynal et Roquelaure brand. On behalf of the CFE-CGC, Béatrice Guitard welcomes “friendly” management during the discussions which led to a long-term partial activity agreement co-signed by the CFDT, the majority union. Satisfaction also for the CGT where Aissa Folouti evokes “an excellent agreement”, with partial unemployment paid at 94% of the net salary for all employees, knowing that the management had granted a general salary increase of 5% in mid-2022 and a another 2.5% in October.
