More than 200 CGT activists near the Senate to demand the nationalization of ArcelorMittal

Some 250 activists from different CGT federations gathered on Wednesday, February 25, near the Senate to demand the nationalization of ArcelorMittal, which was to be examined there in the afternoon.

Adopted at the last minute in the National Assembly at the end of November at the initiative of La France insoumise, the bill to nationalize the steel giant has been placed on the agenda of the Senate by the communists in their reserved space.

"Today, the second half begins. Whatever the result, the match will be played in extra time," said union secretary general Sophie Binet, referring to another vote scheduled in the National Assembly on June 11.

"Without the nationalization of ArcelorMittal, there will be no more French or European steel," asserted Sophie Binet, denouncing the "symbol of the resignation of political leaders in the face of the forces of money."

Arriving in a large group to the sound of bagpipes, firecrackers and enveloped by the swirls of smoke bombs, the employees of the Dunkirk site hung a banner on the gates of the Luxembourg garden, which houses the Senate.

Inscribed on it is the slogan repeatedly chanted during the rally: "We can make METAL without MITTAL".

"We didn't believe it, but we started to have hope," Gaëtan Lecocq, from the Dunkirk site, told reporters regarding the National Assembly's vote. "This is the hope of French industry because a country without industry is a country that doesn't exist."

"If steel collapses tomorrow, it will have a domino effect," he warned, referring to the energy and cement sectors.

The steel giant has suspended its decarbonization investment plans in Europe since the end of 2024 and announced in April a social plan in France, the relevance of which is called into question by an expert report commissioned by the Social and Economic Committee (CSE).

"We are from Montataire, about twenty years ago we were 1.600, currently we are a little less than 500. We are less impacted than other sites but there are 25 job cuts," Christopher Allet, a quality controller for 15 years at ArcelorMittal, who came from Oise, told AFP.

The gathering took place in the presence of LFI MPs Aurélie Trouvé, Aurélien Le Coq and Thomas Portes, as well as communist senators such as Michelle Gréaume and Pascal Salvodelli.

The upper house, clearly dominated by the right, will most certainly reject the text, as in a first unsuccessful attempt by the communists at the end of October.