The Vayres glassworks pays the price of the wine crisis in Bordeaux: “We fear we will never see recovery”

In less than a month, the glassworks in Vayres (Gironde), owned by the American giant OI Glass (for Owens-Illinois) will shut down completely for six months. A big void for Thierry Lallemand and his colleagues. He spent 37 years of his life in this factory. By occupying all the positions there, “from packaging to the pure manufacturing of bottles”, as described by the sixty-year-old who became a supervisor, but who has not forgotten this “difficult work with a lot of heat, noise, grease and oil”.

The pace of running these huge ovens continuously was “difficult to be compatible with family life” but in the 1990s, “there were good salaries and recognition for the 515 employees”, remembers the FO glassworks union representative. Twenty years before, the factory, less mechanized, hired up to a thousand workers, enough to support the entire canton. Since then, the wine crisis has been there. “The Gironde is experiencing a big wave of uprooting of vines,” explains Stéphane Leroy, CGT delegate.

320 net redundancies throughout France

“But instead of lowering prices to be competitive, the company raised them, well beyond inflation. As a result, Bordeaux wine growers, already in difficulty, are sourcing their bottles from Spain or Portugal, we cannot blame them,” said Thierry Lallemand, who denounced the restructuring plan called “Fit to Win” of OI Glass, “delivered with abstract marketing slogans” which should result in 320 net layoffs throughout France, or nearly 15% of the 2,200 employees.

The American glassmaker, which has ten industrial sites in France, had recently invested to green its production. Particularly in Vayres, in 2023, “with a new, more technological and more eco-friendly oven, at 50 million euros”, recall Thierry Lallemand and Stéphane Leroy. “OI France is posting record profits and has benefited from 15 million euros in direct public aid between 2019 and 2023 for its investments,” added last May, Julien Brugerolles, MP for Puy-de-Dôme, who spoke on the endangered glass industry at the National Assembly.

“A bitter end to his career”

Despite this, in September 2025, the American company, which did not respond to interview requests from “Parisien” – “Today in France”, permanently closed oven 1 of its Gironde site, eliminating between 80 and 120 positions. At the end of the social plan which will end at the end of 2026, there will only be 150 employees left. And a lot of misunderstanding. On oven 2, brand new, a 4th additional machine will soon be connected, “to produce almost as many bottles as with the two ovens, but at even higher rates”, fears Thierry Lallemand.

The stoppage for work, from March 10 to September 17, “falls right during the wine bottling season”, annoy the two unionists, who also learned of the dismissal of a dozen salespeople, at the national level. “Now that we no longer sell our bottles, it’s going to be even more complicated,” they grumble.

Thierry Lallemand and Stéphane Leroy will soon retire early, with 23 other employees, as part of the PSE: “A bitter end after an entire career dedicated to this company. » They fear the worst: “The work did not require six months of closure, we fear we will never see the resumption of oven 2.”

Strategic for employment in the town of Vayres, the restart of the oven, scheduled for October, will be closely monitored. The glassworks unions were received by the sub-prefect of Libourne on February 18, who assured them of his vigilance regarding OI-Glass and the company’s behavior in the months to come.