Social plan at the CCF: FO will fight to save as many jobs as possible.

On December 4, the management of Crédit commercial de France announced to the unions the elimination of 1,346 jobs by 2026, or more than a third of the workforce. The FO union of the CCF denounces the financial motives of this large-scale social plan. He intends to fight to preserve as many jobs as possible, particularly in agencies, eighty-eight of which will close.

This is the shock wave at Crédit commercial de France. On December 4, the CCF group announced in the CSE a massive layoff plan: 1,346 jobs will be eliminated by the end of 2026. Out of 3,285 employees, management therefore plans to lay off more than a third of the workforce. Since October, CSE elected officials had expected a major restructuring which would impact around a thousand jobs. It is now confirmed. It’s a huge social plan. Unheard of in the banking sector for fifteen years is outraged by Éric Poyet, DS FO of the CCF group, who mentions employees in a state of shock. And insists the activist, There is a lot of worry. We are not sure that the CCF will continue. Entire sections of activity will disappear. And the deep cuts concern all professions. The group's management will cut 500 jobs at the headquarters in Paris and in support functions, and more than 700 within banking branches. Agencies whose number will be reduced: of the 235 spread across the country, 88 will close. After negotiation of the PSE, the layoffs should take place between October 2026 and the last quarter of 2026, management indicated.

An unjustified social plan, and a voracious shareholder

If, seeking to justify this restructuring, Management expresses its desire for the CCF to find sustainable growththis while it will see its 2024 financial year show a financial loss of 200 million euros, for FO, this social plan is not only unfair but also difficult to justify. The financial situation of the CCF remains good. As for the losses in 2024, they were already anticipated during the resale to My Money group thus recalls Éric Poyet. For the delegate, this social plan stems mainly from the profitability requirements of the American investment fund Cerberus, shareholder of the CCF. At the end of 2023, the British giant HSBC (which acquired CCF in 2000, editor's note) sold its French retail bank network to the company My Money group (MMG), owned by the Cerberus fund. Crédit commercial de France will regain its brand name, CCF, from 1^is January 2024. On the date of the transaction, in 2023, HSBC transferred net assets worth €2.6 billion to MMG. Which amounts to signing a substantial check aimed at HSBC to offload its agencies in France. This money should have been used to finance a recovery plan, not massive layoffs denounces the FO delegate.

In fact, the buyer will not take long to cut staff numbers. When the bank was acquired, MMG agreed not to lay off any employees for one year. He barely met this deadline before announcing this vast social plan to the CCF. After the takeover, colleagues worked hard to reassure clients and ensure that they kept their investments with us. And barely a year later, management thanks them by firing them sums up, bitterly, Éric Poyet.

Negotiate support measures

On December 17, the unions were to start negotiating the job protection plan. Negotiations which should last until the end of April. Management wants to include voluntary departures. But to eliminate 1,346 jobs, everyone knows that there will be many forced layoffs continues Éric Poyet. The first union at the CCF, FO intends to negotiate solid support measures for employees who will be made redundant. But our objective is of course also to fight to save as many jobs as possible in the 88 agencies that management wants to close. explains the activist. FO intends to rely on accounting expertise, which must be ordered by the CSE, to understand the economic situation of the CCF. A way to argue step by step to maintain jobs. The precise scope of agency closures remains to be negotiated. The CCF announced that it wanted to close 30 % in Ile-de-France, 30 % in large provincial towns, and 40 % on the rest of the territory.