Dominique Manotti: Lorraine Connection

‘Bonuses will be discussed at the works council in a week’s time. We’ll get no information before then. They say no decisions have been taken. But the Head of HR didn’t deny the rumour. In our view, they’ve decided to cancel them and they’re simply putting off the moment when they’re going to tell us. As far as Rolande’s situation is concerned, the Head of HR will discuss it with the shop stewards only once we get back to work.’

A few protests, cries of ‘thieves’ and ‘bastards’. A short woman with permed hair calls the management ‘serial killers’. The big question: Now what do we do? At first there’s no answer. ‘A weeklong strike, until the works council meeting? That’s a long time. And besides, this isn’t really a good time, stocks are plentiful …’ Nourredine suggests waiting for the second shift, which will arrive in less than two hours, and deciding together whether to continue with the strike or not. A reasonable-sounding proposal, unanimously accepted.

The groups disperse. Some go back to their card games in the cafeteria, others go and play music in the staffroom. Amrouche vanishes, he’s probably gone back to hang out in the admin section. Small groups of women stand around chatting by the coffee machine. A few mothers unobtrusively slip away to get on with the washing and two men go off to pick mushrooms. With the arrival of the cooler weather there should be hedgehog mushrooms.

Nourredine is sitting at a table with Hafed, a member of the health and safety committee who was on the delegation. He’s a young technician: slim, elegant, and a know-all, highly valued for his technical skills. One of those men who can’t be intimidated by threats of losing his job. He lives with the certainty, justified or not, of being a man who is indispensable and sought-after. The two men, two different worlds, have never spoken to each other, but today they’re drinking coffee together with a shared feeling of impotence.

One of the women from admin cautiously enters the cafeteria, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. She slides in beside Nourredine, leans towards him and says very quietly: ‘The CEO called a removals firm to clear all the stocks of finished products. I heard the interpreter, he was calling from the office next to mine while your delegation was waiting to speak to management.’

The two men exchange glances, instinctively clasp each other’s hands in a handshake. In it together, cut to the quick. Faced with contempt, they feel like shouting, hitting out, smashing something, showing they exist. And they can hear, very clearly, the threat behind the slap in the face: first the stocks, then the machines, then the closure of the factory, something management has been threatening constantly for the last two years. ‘It’s war,’ mutters Nourredine, gutted. Hafed smiles. ‘Keep calm, it hasn’t come to that yet, but we do have to agree on how to respond.’

An impromptu general meeting. Hafed, speaking in a neutral voice, informs the assembled workers. The collective reaction is immediate: ‘All this belongs to us as much as it does to them.’ ‘We won’t allow the lorries to enter the factory.’ No more hesitation, indecision, dispersed groups, everybody joins in the discussion. ‘How do we go about it?’ ‘Block the entrance gates.’ ‘Occupy the porter’s lodge, essential if we want to control the opening and closing of the gates.’ ‘That means occupying the factory?’ Yes, say it out loud, we’re occupying the factory. And we’ve got to move fast, there’s no shortage of removals firms in Lorraine. ‘We occupy until the second shift arrives,’ Nourredine decides. ‘Then we’ll discuss the next move with them.’ Unanimous agreement.

The cafeteria empties and a hundred or so workers including around ten women surround the porter’s lodge at the factory gates. Between it and the front of the building is a somewhat neglected open area of about thirty metres covered in unmown grass, wiry enough to withstand the Lorraine climate. Behind the tinted mirror glass façade are the executives’ offices. The senior and middle managers, Korean and French, must all be there, watching from behind the windows. They are invisible, but the awareness of their presence weighs down on the workers, they feel exposed. At least there’s no sign of any lorries, which feels like a small victory. Maybe there won’t be any lorries, it could all be a false rumour. They take what comfort they can from that. Carry out another recce. Two huge sliding gates are electronically operated from the porter’s lodge. One gate leads to the staff car park to the right of the factory; the left-hand one is the lorry route to the warehouse and the loading bays. To the right again there’s a pedestrian entrance. Between the two gates stands the porter’s lodge, a flimsy building with two huge windows. Twenty people should be able to fit in there. For the time being there are only two security guards, staring out of the windows at the workers without moving.

They must go in. Amrouche has joined the workers, his expression inscrutable. The delegation reconvenes and enters the porter’s lodge. Again it’s Nourredine who’s the spokesperson. ‘We’re occupying, we’re taking control of the gates.’ The security guards are two men the wrong side of fifty, beefy, pot-bellied and wearing navy-blue jackets marked ‘Security’. They shrug. ‘As you like, we’re not Daewoo employees and our chief has instructed us not to get involved. He simply told us to maintain a presence in the porter’s lodge, and he’s sending two colleagues as backup to patrol the premises. You’ll be able to identify them, they’ll be wearing the same uniform as us.’ Nourredine asks them to show him how to open and close the gates. It all seems simple. Outside, a feeble sun has finally broken through and the workers have resumed their conversations. They amble around in small groups, already at a loose end. A few women go inside the porter’s lodge to warm up, others start drifting back to the cafeteria.

The first workers from the second shift begin to arrive, mostly by car. Nourredine opens the right-hand gate. They leave their vehicles in the car park then return in small groups, and informal discussions break out between the two shifts. No bonuses this year. No, it’s not a matter of December payments being delayed, but of no bonuses at all. What about the February agreement? All bullshit. The women talk among themselves. With Christmas coming, no bonuses means no presents for the kids. Reactions veer between anger and disbelief, in an atmosphere of chaos.

Just then Nourredine, who’s still watching the main gate, sees a convoy of three huge articulated removal lorries emblazoned with their company logo crawling towards the roundabout in front of the factory gates. He presses the switch to close the gate, which doesn’t budge. A surge of adrenaline, sweat, turmoiled thoughts, the lorries’ arrival timed to coincide with that of the second shift, gates blocked open from the inside offices. If the lorries get in, there’ll be fights, the police, and we’re fucked. He rushes outside yelling:

‘The lorries, the lorries! The gate’s stuck, block the entrance, block the entrance.’

The lorries move forward in a slow, relentless convoy. The first one turns on to the roundabout in a majestic curve. The shapes of three men can just be made out in the cab. Two hundred or so workers, only the men, with Hafed in the front line, his jaws clenched. The rest race for the gate, arms linked, and grip the gateposts. They stand several lines deep, united, together, hearts pounding.

Behind the human barricade, Nourredine and five other workers all had the same idea at the same time. Pile up some empty pallets and set fire to them with lighters, that’s all we’ve got. Shit! Let’s hope they catch alight. They catch alight.