The employees are angry. In Montoir-de-Bretagne, near Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique), the management of the Yara company has announced the upcoming transformation of its agricultural fertilizer production site. A decision which will have a very heavy impact on the local workforce. According to West France, 139 of the 170 jobs on the site will soon be eliminated. Announced to the unions during a social and economic committee, the news cast a chill in the ranks of employees. Paradoxically, this announcement will perhaps delight some local residents who complain about the lack of work to bring it up to standard.
For several years, the factory located on the banks of the Loire has been the subject of strong criticism from residents of the area. The first factory to emit fine particles in the Pays-de-la-Loire region, it has been put on notice several times by the State for abnormal discharges into the Loire and into the air.
A recent death on the site
Deemed obsolete, the installations will not be brought up to standard. The Norwegian group should transform the factory into a simple storage space, taking advantage of its location on the port terminal. To justify this choice, the company explains that the Montoir site has been losing money for several years, particularly since the start of the war in Ukraine. The amount of investment to comply with standards is estimated at more than 30 million euros. In June, the Yara company was fined 500,000 euros for repeated pollution.
West France specifies that a subcontractor employee died on this site on October 24. The potential presence of ammonia is one of the avenues which could have led to the death of this 50-year-old temporary worker, which has remained silent. According to the Yara website, the group founded in Norway in 1905 today has 17,800 employees worldwide, for a turnover estimated at $24.1 billion in 2022.