LIP (company) - 1973: Beginning of The Strike and Demonstrations

1973: Beginning of The Strike and Demonstrations

In May 1973, an Action Committee (CA, Comité d'action), influenced by the May 1968 movement, was founded. During an extraordinary works council meeting on June 12, 1973, workers stumbled upon the management's plans to restructure and downsize, which had been kept secret from them (one note said "450 à dégager", "get rid of 450"). The company then employed 1,300 workers. At first, Charles Piaget, now an official of the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail union and active in the Unified Socialist Party (PSU), opposed a strike, preferring a slowdown, in which workers would pause for ten minutes an hour.

However, the workers were angry at the secret restructuring plan and immediately occupied the factory. On the same day, June 12, they took two administrators and an inspecteur du travail (government labor inspector) as hostages. The workers wanted to exchange them for "more precise information," declared Piaget (as shown in the 2007 film documentary). However, around midnight, the three hostages were quickly rescued by the CRS riot police in a violent assault. According to Piaget, this assault shocked the workers, who had been careful during previous strikes not to damage the factory in any way.

Having lost their human hostages, the workers decided to take materials hostage to block the restructuration plans. They seized 65,000 watches and hid them in various remote locations. They discussed the moral legitimacy of the action, wondering if it was a theft or a sin – Catholicism was strong in this region. But the Dominican priest and worker Jean Raguenès, who himself was close to Maoism, absolved the workers in advance.

The workers also took the plans of the factory, to avoid any risk of the competition obtaining these industrial secrets. The following day, the workers held a general assembly and decided to occupy the factory day and night.

The strike was led by Charles Piaget. Half the workers were by then affiliated with a union, either the CFDT or the CGT; most belonged to the CFDT. The leaders were mostly members of the Action Catholique Ouvrière (AOC, Workers' Catholic Action) and of popular education movements. They included Charles Piaget, Roland Vittot, Raymond Burgy, worker-priest Jean Raguenes, and an executive of the company, Michel Jeanningros. Two women, Jeannine Pierre-Emile and Fatima Demougeot, were also CFDT leaders at LIP. Noëlle Dartevelle and Claude Mercet were the Confédération générale du travail (CGT) representatives.

The workers now decided to open up the factory to outsiders, including journalists. This made them more popular. At first, Jacques Chérêque, the national leader of the CFDT metallurgist section, was wary of the Action Committee. At request of the striking workers, he sent a representative, Fredo Coutet, a metal worker, to discuss the strike with the local section of the CFTC. After a week, Coutet was convinced by his experience, but Chérêque remained wary. At that time, the workers were still skeptical about trying self-management, and requested an employer. Led by François Chérêque, the CFDT now tried to find an employer to buy the firm.