Toulouse. Thales employees leave their jobs to force Management to bend on its social plan

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There were more than a hundred of them who put their day on hold to demonstrate in front of the site of Thales Alenia Space (TAS). Tuesday November 26, 2024, at the call of the inter-union FO CGT CFDT CFE-CGCThales employees expressed their anger at the vast redeployment plan carried out by management. In question, 764 jobs would be threatened in Toulouse1,125 in France and nearly 1,300 throughout Europe.

“We have to continue to put pressure on them”

It all starts in March 2024, when TAS management informs its employees of its “ plan Thémis », including the elimination of 1,300 positions including 764 on the Toulouse site. A decision which arrives a few months after a first round of 317 positions eliminated at the end of 2023. However, this time, it is the last straw. After a first mobilization last September, the inter-union once again mobilized the troops to slow down the implementation of this plan.

« We have to continue to put pressure on themso that they give up. If the plan is validated, Thales would become a space company that would no longer be able to produce satellites. Management is expected to emerge from the parallel reality it has entered and propose a concrete industrial process. Thanks to the strikes, the plan is currently blocked, so we will continue the mobilization until they give in,” declares Thomas Meynadier, union delegate at the CGT TAS.

Indeed, “the European Committee of the Thales group having given on November 4 a unfavorable opinion on the Thémis planthe Group's management will have to present a new project on December 2,” specifies the inter-union.

The drop in production and the competition involved

This redeployment plan is particularly motivated by the drop in satellite productionbut also for financial reasons.

“Previously, the number of addressable satellites on the telecoms market was around 20, today there are 10,” explains the TAS management spokesperson. And in recent years, there have been fewer and fewer manufacturers making satellites because of new competing companies such as Starlink for example. Thus, many of our clients have had to change their business model and therefore their companies. Of course, there will always be work, but the group is obliged to reduce staff numbers for profitability and to offer competitive products. »

Both camps keep passing the buck. On the side of the unions, “the workload would become catastrophic» by letting go of 764 employees. “We already had enough work, more than enough for the number we have today. So, I can’t imagine if we would lose so many people,” continues the CGT.

Mass mutations

The Thémis plan thus includes the redeployment of all the employees concerned. More precisely, the positions will be eliminated, butjobs will indeed be preserved. For this, many industrialists will be transferred to the various Thales sites in France. The group is counting on several retirements as well as the geographical mobility of each person.

“Management takes this very seriously. There will be personalized support at the HR level so as not to leave employees in doubt. No one will be abandoned,” insists TAS.

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