Production of military drones at Renault: in Cléon, the CGT wants conscientious objector status for employees

In Cléon (Seine-Maritime), on the Ampère site dedicated in particular to the motorization of the Renault group’s electric vehicles, the information was already “in the pipeline”, according to Thierry Coquin, the secretary of the Force Ouvrière (FO) union at the factory which employs around 2,600 employees. Still. The confirmation by headquarters of information from the magazine “L’Usine Nouvelle” according to which Renault was going to manufacture military drones in collaboration with the French defense company Turgis Gaillard was widely commented on there. It must be said that this contract could be around a billion euros over ten years.

And even if, for the moment, the choice of the two sites concerned has not yet been made official, the Ampère factory in Cléon, where the drone engines would be manufactured, and that of Le Mans (Sarthe) seem to hold the rope. With divergent opinions on the side of the unions.

“A vision more political than union”

As of Tuesday, the CGT reaffirmed its “opposition to the development and manufacture of any industrial means likely to be used, directly or indirectly, for military purposes”. In a press release, Thomas Ouvrard, the CGT union representative for the Renault group, recalled that if his company “had to diversify, this cannot be done to the detriment of its ethics nor at the cost of involvement in warlike logic. Renault’s core business, as an automobile manufacturer, remains above all the design and production of vehicles that meet the needs of populations.

A vision that does not go down well with the FO union and its representative in Cléon, Thierry Coquin. “We must be pragmatic and take an interest in the consequences on the ground of this announcement. In a sector in great difficulty, this production of drones is an opportunity to be seized which would make it possible to sustain employment and give visibility to the site’s activity. For him, “the CGT’s declarations correspond more to a political vision than a union one”. He prefers to see this production carried out “in our factories, on French territory, rather than in Germany or elsewhere”.

“Respond only to national defense needs”

Despite its opposition in principle, the CGT nevertheless seems to acknowledge the fact that the Renault group has already made its decision, laying the first milestones for a future negotiation: “If an arms production were to exist, it could only meet national defense needs, under public control”, continues Thomas Ouvrard who already imagines the creation of a sort of conscientious objector status within the automobile manufacturer’s factories: “We ask that guarantees be provided so that employees refusing to work at the production of equipment for military use can be redirected towards other projects or activities of the group, without prejudice to their employment, their career or their working conditions. »

For Thierry Coquin, from FO, the main thing today is “to find out more about Renault’s choices in a concrete way”. A CSE on the Le Mans site was also held on this subject on Tuesday January 20, noting the fact that tests would be carried out with the Ministry of the Armed Forces on prototypes before going further.