Globalization is also like this. Are we waiting for what comes next, or how can we fight against a sly dismantling that has been underway for a few months?
Since the beginning of the year, Michel Meรฏni, Mayor of La Gaude, has been compelled to mobilize the men and women of the canton as well as elected officials from all political backgrounds to oppose the project of relocating the IBM company:
Nine hundred people are affected and called upon to practice their various professions initially at Sophia Antipolis and then, very soon, outside the national territory.
This relocation attempt to four sites, distant from each other at Sophia Antipolis, bore the seeds of the destruction of systems put in place for many years. The synergy existing between the different services would have been shattered.
Thanks to the exceptional mobilization of elected officials, the people of La Gaude, and citizens from all over the Alpes-Maritimes department, the historical site in La Gaude will continue, for at least the next three years, to host most of IBM’s high-tech skills.
Unfortunately, during the period of uncertainty that accompanied the implementation of this project, IBM’s managers took the opportunity to close the patent department and not renew the contracts of nearly ten highly specialized employees. They thus created difficult and challenging personal conditions for the employees, complexities (traffic jams, distances from home, childcare, etc…).
The suffering induced by this inhuman treatment greatly concerns the Mayor of La Gaude, who fears a desperate act (eight of them consulted occupational health services and two were temporarily declared unfit).
Yesterday, the relocation of the site, today the closure of the intellectual property department, and tomorrow the dismantling of the approval department are not justified by any real economic necessity: IBM presents a flourishing financial report, showing more than 17% growth in 2010.
IBM’s managers are using French law, according to which below a certain number of layoffs, it is not necessary to implement a social plan. The patent department has joined Great Britain and Germany, from which the most influential managerial executives originate!
Michel Meรฏni also seeks the strong support of Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the Republic.
