Solidarity address of the Workers' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee regarding the closure of the site of Gosselies by Caterpillar

After 50 years of presence in Gosselies (Charleroi), the multinational company Caterpillar has decided to close down its factory with 2 200 workers laid off as a result and probably about another 4 000 in subcontracting risking to lose their jobs. This is an unprecedented social drama for a region in regeneration.

The workers are furious at this decision for several reasons:

• The decision was taken brutally without providing the slightest opportunity to save the activity; yet in 2012, workers had already accepted drastic flexibility measures to improve their productivity!
• A considerable amount of state aid with particularly low taxes had been granted to this very profitable multinational company but this did not prevent it from closing the site.

The company has decided to relocate its activities to Grenoble in France, and the French workers have already expressed their solidarity with their colleagues in Charleroi and voiced serious concerns about the future of their jobs, in a company purely driven by profit that has clearly chosen to defend its shareholders over its workers. 

We too wish to express our full support to all those workers, trade union organisations, politicians and investors who are mobilising to ensure a future for this region already seriously affected by the crisis that has plunged a whole region into a precarious situation.

Their fight is our fight at the European level: we need social justice, jobs, investment plans instead of austerity and a fair tax system!