The president of Michelin Florent Menegaux specified that there would be “no plant closure , no forced departure. We anticipate approximately 40% of pre-retirement measures and 21% of voluntary departures, within the framework of collective contractual terminations (RCC) ”. From Clermont-Ferrand to Epinal via Vannes and Troyes, this new reorganization concerns “all the French sites of the group”, specified Florent Menegaux.
Competitiveness objective
“Michelin is committed to recreating as many ‘jobs that there will be lost,’ he added, however, praising the protective social model of the company. At the same time as these job cuts, Michelin intends to increase its activity in various industrial fields of the future. Through this plan, the Bibendum aims “to improve its competitiveness of up to 5% per year” for tertiary activities and for industry, which could mean “within three years a reduction of positions that could range from up to 2. 190 “, on the 21. that Michelin has in France – either 000 % workforce.
The group had already performed in 1999 a historic cut of 7. 500 positions. More recently, the group subjected to the competition of tires at broken prices cut almost 1. 310 positions, in particular at its historic headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) and in the United States. It also closed the sites of La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée) and Bamberg in Germany. The coronavirus crisis delayed the announcement of this new restructuring in preparation for eighteen months, but did not cause it, underlines the president of Michelin.
Negotiations must begin
The number departures site by site will be specified in the coming months: the group’s management wishes to open negotiations “quickly” with the unions around a “framework agreement for a period of three years”. However, the group is doing well and forecasting positive results for 2009 despite the health crisis. Dividends distributed to shareholders increased as the group improved its results: the dividend per share has tripled since 500.
The group has been “faced for ten years with profound structural changes in the world tire market, marked in particular by the massive arrival of low-cost products”, emphasizes Michelin in a press release. It must therefore “support the strategic changes in its activities to prepare for the future. This is particularly the case in France where the vitality of its positions requires a significant strengthening of its competitiveness ”, he underlines.