The strike against the sale of Doliprane production sites in France will be renewed on Tuesday in Lisieux but suspended in Compiègne, we learned from union sources.
Doliprane, the best-selling drug in France, will be able to come under the control of the American investment fund CD&R: the pharmaceutical group Sanofi formalized on Monday its choice to sell it 50% of its subsidiary Opella which produces the painkiller.
"The strike is being renewed today (Tuesday) following the vote by employees, because we have no additional information and the responses given in recent days" concerning the safeguarding of employment and production on French territory "are not satisfactory" declared to AFP Johann Nicolas, CGT Opella delegate at the Lisieux site (Calvados), on strike since Thursday.
"We will do the same tomorrow, we will have Olivier Faure visit the site," added the union representative of this site dedicated to the production of Doliprane which employs 250 people, assuring that "other Sanofi sites are on strike today in support, Ambarès, Sisteron, Aramon and Maisons-Alfort."
Sanofi management told AFP that on Tuesday it had counted "42 strikers at all Sanofi sites in France (including Opella sites), including 33 in Lisieux" and "9 at the Vitry site", in the Paris region. According to Sanofi, this movement has "no significant impact" on the production of Doliprane.
In Compiègne (Oise), a general assembly took place on Tuesday morning, according to Adil Bensetra, CFDT deputy coordinator of Sanofi Compiègne, and another will take place in the afternoon.
For the moment, "we are not going to renew the mobilization," he explained, before warning that "as of next week,
|they were going to] start negotiations and if it didn't go well, if there was a loss of social benefits, there would be a new mobilization."
Mr. Bensetra believes that it will be much more significant if this is the case because it will concern "all employees", stating the objective of 250 strikers.
This proposed sale has aroused strong emotion among the public and the political class because it concerns a basic medicine used by a large number of French people to relieve pain and fever.
The public investment bank Bpifrance will participate in the capital of this company to the tune of "1 to 2%", or "between 100 and 150 million euros", according to its general manager Nicolas Dufourcq.
The tripartite agreement between the State, Sanofi and CD&R, announced Sunday evening by the government, includes "the sustainability of the production sites of Lisieux and Compiègne", the maintenance of the headquarters and research and development activities in France, and the protection of employment.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025 at the earliest.
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