Pia Imbs: “This rapprochement can be done with us”
“My reaction is a reaction of incomprehension and anger, and of solidarity with the employees who today learned of the social plan which concerns them.
You know Adidas has its roots deep in the land. First in Landersheim, then later in the business district of Strasbourg. And the four communities – Region, City Eurometropolis and CEA – have already expressed themselves to underline this lack of transparency and consultation with the communities, and of the rapid, brutal decision to leave announced, even though the social plan is for 2024. We We disapprove of this approach.
[…] We feel betrayed somewhere. The Eurometropolis, in particular, had arranged the arrival of Adidas in Strasbourg. With the other communities as well, everything was ready for Adidas to remain permanently in the territory.
We see them here terminating a lease and regrouping two teams at the head office in Paris. However, it is in Strasbourg, on our Alsatian territory, that Adidas has, in my opinion, its relevance to be present, on a territory, in a business district near the European Parliament. It is also this European capital of Strasbourg that we want to highlight and that Adidas is leaving.
[…] Yes, of course [c’est un coup dur pour le quartier Archipel], and we hope that the Groupama group, which owns its premises, will be able to attract other companies. I take this opportunity to say that in the Eurometropolis, many other companies are setting up and developing today. And so fortunately, we have many other economic activity zones and other local businesses that persist and even seek to expand. But it is indeed a blow and we do not approve. We said it.
You should know that the municipal council of Strasbourg, the council of the Eurometropolis, all the councillors, elected officials, voted unanimously for a motion to wish, to express the wish that Adidas remain on our territory – in the occurrence in Strasbourg.
Also tell you that tomorrow morning I am going to call on the Minister for Foreign Trade Franck Riester, who is also Minister for France’s attractiveness, on this subject. And of course also Bruno Lemaire [ministre de l’économie, ndlr] who is informed. And obviously the general manager of the Adidas group.
[…] We are waiting for support [de l’État sur ce sujet] so that Adidas reconsiders its decision and can consolidate its head office here, repatriate if necessary the Parisian employees to us, here, in our city, which is the capital, the city center of the Eurometropolis, which has an economic dynamism completely proven.
[…] It is a purely economic decision to bring together 140 employees and 110 in one place to create a common corporate culture. We also believe that this rapprochement of the two teams of employees can also be done at home and allow and offer a quality of life, of life at work, which is nevertheless recognized here, on our territory.
[Aux salariés d’Adidas], this is obviously a message of support. We proposed to the management of Adidas that they could keep offices here, in Strasbourg. They rejected it, since they are going more on a teleworking proposal, as you know, in the Paris region, and obviously the employees will work from home. Again, that’s a shame. But we are always ready to explore all avenues to keep Adidas in our territory.
[…] We work with the Adira (Agence de développement d’Alsace), we ourselves have a large economic development department, we work with other local authorities to continue to attract businesses. And I have no doubt that a number of companies will continue to settle. But there, for once, Adidas is still a completely emblematic company, Alsatian, which, in its time already, a few years ago, was already knowing whether it wanted to keep its headquarters in Alsace or in Paris. She still settled permanently in the business center And now the company is going to break its lease, which was still for 9 years, and decides, after two years of Covid, which are not indicative of reality, also economic activity and the way in which employees can be present at the head office, to go to Paris. So we continue to disagree with that decision, and we say that very, very strongly. »
J.R.