Michelin to cut 1,500 jobs in France

The French group Michelin, the world's largest tire manufacturer, announced yesterday a voluntary layoff program in France, targeting "up to 1,500 jobs over three years," AFP reports, according to Agerpres.

"Up to 1,500 jobs could be eliminated in France, of which two-thirds will be in administrative positions and one-third in production," Michelin's human resources director for France and Southern Europe, Olivier Faure-Vauris, told AFP.

No specific plant will be targeted. The Michelin group's administrative functions are located in Paris, Clermont-Ferrand and Lille. The plan will be "based on voluntary departures and no one will be forced to resign," Faure-Vauris added.

The Michelin group has already eliminated 1,246 jobs in France by 2024 as part of a restructuring plan, by closing two industrial facilities in the west of the country, in Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) and Vannes (Morbihan).

Michelin currently employs 17,000 people in France, where it has 13 industrial facilities.

A year ago, during a hearing by a National Assembly committee, Michelin Group CEO Florent Menegaux declared that industrial activities in France were "unprofitable.”

The situation in France is marked by "high levels of production costs, linked in particular to labor and energy costs, as well as one of the highest tax burdens among industrialized countries,” the group said in a press release, adding that it intends to reduce its costs. Michelin recalled that over the past ten years it has invested almost 3.5 billion euros in France.

In the first quarter of this year, Michelin recorded a 5.4% drop in sales, to 6.2 billion euros.

The Michelin Group, which has 123,000 employees worldwide, began its activity in Romania in August 2001.