Comrades,

Last June, the Lecta Group abruptly announced its intention to cease production of two-sided coated paper and cut 226 jobs at its Condat plant in the Dordogne. The announcement sent shockwaves through the industry at a time when Condat employees - who remain firmly committed to preserving the future of their plant - had been working hard for months and the Group had received millions of euros in of public funding to keep the site competitive.

One month after the announcement, the economic reasons behind this decision have still not been clarified, and there are still many grey areas regarding the Group's industrial development strategy in Europe. What's more, Lecta's European Works Council has still not been convened to conduct a social dialogue worthy of the name on the future of each of the group's sites in Europe.

This is unacceptable! The European trade union federations that defend workers in the wood and construction industries (EFBWW), in industry (industriAll Europe) and in the graphics/packaging sector (UNI Europa) are sending you this letter to express our solidarity and to assure the hundreds of families of Condat workers of our support.

We urge the central management of the Lecta Group to halt all restructuring measures until a constructive social dialogue has taken place in France and at European level on the Group's strategy in Europe and in France. Guarantees must be given as soon as possible regarding the future of the Lecta sites and the jobs at Condat.

Our European trade union federations will be fighting alongside you to ensure that no Condat worker is left by the wayside. Rest assured that we will continue to monitor the situation very closely and stand ready to support your actions.

Undersigned: Tom Deleu (General Secretary EFBWW), Isabelle Barthès & Judith Kirton-Darling (Deputy General Secretaries industriAll Europe), Daniel Fernández (Head of UNI Graphical & Packaging)