“This is a resolution we have taken lightly,” said Laurent Dartoux, president of Bridgestone’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, referring to overcathing in Europe and the intense festival of Asian companies.
Wednesday’s announcement of 863 layoffs until 2021 came as a surprise to workers in Bethune (Pas-de-Calais), one of the many cities in northern and east France suffering from the commercial decline of recent decades.
“We think a restructuring is likely, but not a closure,” Sud Chemistry union official Christophe Bouttmy told AFP.
French Minister of Labor Elisabeth Borne and Industry Minister Agnos Pannier-Runache also reacted antagonly on Thursday, saying the government “totally disagrees with Bridgestone’s decision,” insisting that the builder conduct “an investigation of election projects for the closure of the site. “
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said: “Bridgestone will have to take up duty instead of seeking excuses. He has invested elsewhere at the expense of the Bethune site,” adding that the company had been receiving state aid for several years.
Disposable employees?
The president of the Hauts-de-France region, who signed the government’s joint statement, expressed his sadness on social media and called the resolution “outrageous and unacceptable. “
“It’s something they’ve been thinking about for a while. The filmmakers lied to us like real cynics,” France Info said Wednesday, stressing that if Bridgestone did not comply with French regulations and did not respond to state proposals, they would be “faced with a long and costly process. “
“It’s not America where we throw other people away like used handkerchiefs,” he said.
Bridgestone, which opened in 1961 in France, announced that it would look for a customer for the plant 40 kilometres west of Lille, and offer jobs at its other pre-retirement sites or packages.
In a statement, Bridgestone said its French distribution and retail network employing another 3,500 people would remain intact.
Humiliation
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire called the company’s resolution “disgusting” on Wednesday, echoing Xavier Bertrand’s determination to “fight” for employee rights.
Bethune Mayor Olivier Gacquerre said he “humiliated” through the resolution and criticized the lack of discussion before the measure.
He said the company had refused to invest in it and “insisted on generating small, marketless tyres while creating larger structures in Poland and Hungary. “
The Covid-19 crisis caused a global slowdown in the automotive sector in Europe, and the market contracted by 40% in the first part of this year, as blockade measures and other restrictions discouraged the purchase of new cars.
Some companies, such as Renault, for example, were going to save their operations thanks to a government loan.
National strikes
The Bridgestone case comes amid emerging tensions in all spaces, as 3 primary French unions call for a national interprofessional strike and a demonstration with teams of affiliated students on Thursday.
Three industry unions (CGT Rail, Solidaires and FSU) said they had called for action to stop work and street protests to express their anger at recent layoffs and defied pension reform.
They also require shorter paint weeks to create jobs and pay low-income people.
Philippe Martinez, general secretary of the CGT union, told the press that he is tired of corporations finishing and firing staff under the pretext of the Covid-19 crisis.
He said that while corporations had won the budget of a government bailout program, they were suffering for key monetary assistance.