Employees of Verrerie du Languedoc, the main supplier of Perrier bottles, are under the "hammer blow" of a possible closure

At the entrance to the Verrerie du Languedoc, owned by the American multinational Owens-Illinois (OI), the employees' fury is displayed in blue letters on a large white banner: "The VDL is fighting, OI will not silence us." Under the scorching sun of July 1st, only enormous trucks come and go in the parking lot of the Gard industrial site. Taking refuge in an air-conditioned office, Johan Goupille, a CGT union representative, vents his cold anger with a machine-gun delivery: "Shall we tell you? On April 8th, the group's European management announced the elimination of 316 to 556 jobs in five glassworks, including 164 here in Vergèze, the only factory OI wants to close."

As it happens, this factory is next to the Perrier spring operated by Nestlé, which has been in the midst of turmoil for many months due to the deterioration in the quality of its mineral water, to which it supplies most of its glass bottles. "Stunned" when he heard the news, the fifty-year-old castigated a group that only thinks about "increasing its profits" under the