SADEF

"On December 22, 1981, he received a mission letter containing these directives and orientations:. "Following the study conducted by SADEF, the government is committed to finding a swift solution for the Agache-Willot group that preserves the main activities and the maximum number of jobs. Consequently, I ask you to lead and conduct, in conjunction with financial partners, the operations that will lead to the takeover of the assets necessary for the rebuilding of the group while replenishing the equity, so that, in a second phase, a solution can be provided to the creditors' issue in connection with the judicial administrators. Simultaneously with the takeover, I wish that you establish a new executive management that will have the necessary means for reconstruction, particularly based on the results of the current discussions with the employees. On the industrial front, you will strive to strengthen the core textile and clothing sector and to develop those peripheral activities, particularly commercial ones, that complement this main activity. Industrialists will be involved, according to modalities you will propose, in the recovery and redeployment of activities depending on the quality of their contribution from an industrial, commercial, financial, and social perspective. Finally, you will establish structures suitable for quickly ensuring the necessary diversifications, where new activities need to be created to maintain employment"..."

"Far from the paneling of Avenue Montaigne, in Wambrechies, the next day, a meeting of the central company committee takes place. The agenda is spicy: proposal for job cuts and divestments of activities. The meeting is particularly stormy. The unions and the staff representatives cry out against the dismantling of the group. The divestments concern the tailoring unit of Le Pigeon Voyageur in Béthune, the tarpaulin and ropemaking activities of Saint Frères in Flixecourt, the Ted Lapidus tailoring factory in Fécamp, and the Raclet tents in Mamers. These divestments were already planned in the SADEF report and in René Mayer's three-year plan."