“In addition to unemployment, we are condemned to have the worry of illness until the end of our days” | EUROtoday

For three months, Sophian Hanous has barely slept and has taken up sport “to think of something else”. Like his colleagues, this worker of the Solvay firm, in Salindres within the Gard, discovered, on September 24, that the manufacturing facility was going to shut and lay off 68 folks within the spring of 2025. “A sledgehammer” for this thirty-year-old and “a double punishment”. Because, on these lands positioned on the foot of the Cévennes mountains, investigations, unveiled in March, revealed that the corporate was releasing very excessive ranges of trifluoroacetic acid into the waters – a product used for the manufacture of pesticides and hearth extinguishers. and medicines, that are present in everlasting pollution. “Now that the pollution has been proven, the company is closing. And we remain unemployed and with serious concerns about our health”critic Sophian Hanous.

Born in Alès, the Gardois has labored at Solvay for 13 years. At the time, aged 25, with a baccalaureate and some short-term jobs on his CV, he thought he had discovered a golden place when he was employed on a everlasting foundation. “The firm financed us a work-study skilled baccalaureate in chemistry professions over one 12 months. They needed certified folks. We have been comfortable to be in an enormous firm with greater salaries. We all turned a blind eye to what we have been doing.”he says. With 3,000 euros net per month “for a baccalaureate level”Sophian Hanous knows that he is one of the privileged in a department with a stricken economy, the fifth poorest in France: “It gave us a quality of life that we don’t want to give up. Post managers receive more than 4,000 euros. »

You have 58.24% of this text left to learn. The relaxation is reserved for subscribers.