Two field researches were carried, one in 1999, the other between 2003 and 2005, among workers that were laid off in 1979 and 1983 following a shedding. Selective exclusion generates strong feelings of injustice and humiliation that are not brought about by a shutdown. The dismay that follows the layoff, mainly linked to estimates of job perspectives, is more frequent among women. Health problems that appear are gender specific. Among women, depressions settle on the long term. Social vulnerability set off by the layoff results in abnormally high death rates among men. Collective capital is destroyed. Definite mistrust of trade unionism among the dis-missed is part of that destruction. The feeling of injustice is experienced in solitude. It nourishes resentment. It appears that the violence of layoff s is a hidden one.