The watch industry is experiencing a sharp slowdown in orders and manufacturers are tending to get rid of their temporary employees, according to testimonies and the Unia union. The latter denounces contracts which facilitate layoffs.
“Due to economic tensions, temporary workers have been laid off in significant numbers on production sites and at subcontractors since the end of last year,” Solenn Ochsner, head of the industry sector at Unia, told the AWP agency. Neuchâtel.
Information confirmed by a Source within a placement agency in the region. “The overall trend for watch brands is to get rid of temporary workers, especially in the mid-range. For those who are doing better, in luxury, the workforce is stabilized,” says this manager.
The Neuchâtel Employment Service, the canton where a large part of Swiss watch production is located, observes for its part that the current unemployment rate is 5% in the watch industry, a little higher than the average of 3. 3% for all economic sectors in the canton, recorded at the end of April.
“We do not know the precise number of temporary workers currently unemployed. To identify them, we would have to take each registration file individually, which we cannot do in the time allotted with the resources available,” declares its boss, Valerie Gianoli. She emphasizes, however, that “the State is not particularly solicited by temporary workers and that no dysfunction concerning them has been reported, which does not mean that there are no problems.”
Flexibility
For Ms. Ochsner, who estimates the number of temporary workers in the Neuchâtel watch industry at a percentage well in excess of 10% of all employees, “this type of contract gives watchmaking groups a very useful margin of maneuver in times of crisis. “. “They can lay off workers very easily and at lower cost, without a social plan,” she explains.
At the Tudor and Kenissi factories in Le Locle – the first belonging to Rolex and the second being closely linked to it – for example, around twenty people out of 100 were made redundant overnight between the end of 2023 and the beginning of this year, without social measures, reports the trade unionist.
Questioned on the subject, a spokesperson for the Rolex group explains that the number of temporary employees fluctuates according to production needs. “It is stable to date. We therefore cannot confirm that it is experiencing a significant decline,” she adds.
Other large groups, such as the Geneva-based Richemont and the French LVMH, are also giving up many of their temporary workers, according to Unia. When contacted, they did not wish to answer our questions.
Takeover rumors at Zenith
At Zenith, a Locle company which belongs to LVMH, “the vast majority of them have been dismissed since the end of 2023. Out of around twenty, there are only three or four left,” reveals an employee on condition of anonymity. “Given the lack of work, the atmosphere is not good,” he relates, while rumors of takeovers circulate in the workshops.
Staff turnover at Someco, a dial and hands manufacturer based in La Chaux-de-Fonds which subcontracts for Richemont, Swatch and LVMH, is also “very high”, with two to five temporary workers let go each month, reports a former worker. Also questioned, the company did not wish to react.
“The companies complain about not having qualified staff, but at the same time they do not set their temporary positions,” notes Alejo Patiño, watchmaking union secretary at Unia Geneva.
In the canton of Geneva, there are fewer temporary workers because there is less production, he explains. The Rolex group nevertheless employs a significant number, estimated by Unia at around 1,000 employees out of a total of 6,000.
“Production is also down in Geneva. Some subcontractors have already announced to some or all of their temporary workers that there will be no more work in the coming weeks,” said the trade unionist.
In the first quarter of 2024, Swiss watch exports decreased by 6.3% year-on-year. They recovered in April, with an increase of 4.3% driven by luxury timepieces and contrasting with the state of entry and mid-range order books.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats/awp
