Michelin announced to its employees the closing avant 2026 of two sites in France, Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) and Valves (Morbihan), which has a total of 1,254 employees. A strike was voted on Tuesday in Cholet. We take stock.
“Sad” et “angry“, the employees of the large Michelin factory in Cholet voted for the strike after the announcement of the closure of the site by the management of the group, which blames “the collapse” sales of tires for trucks and vans.
A Cholet, “they put the 900 employees in a room like cows to the slaughterhouse and announced that it was over“, declared to theAFP Morgan Royeremployed since “almost 10 years” at Michelin and SUD union representative.
Tires burned in the afternoon: Cholet employees voted for a strike and blocked the site shortly after management's announcements.
At the Michelin factory in Vannes, “everyone blames it”
At the Michelin factory in Vannes, “the announcement, made by the director, was greeted with great silence. Everyone blames it“, testified Eric Boisgardemployee since 2004 and former CGT union representative. Employees had feared these announcements for several weeks, and discussions with the unions had been interrupted.
For the group's first union, the CFE-CGC, these closures are “a unilateral, brutal and poorly anticipated decision“, condemned his central union delegate José Tarantiniwith theAFP. “We understand that there may be restructuring, which does not mean site closure“, underlined M. Tarantini.
“Today, we are closing two sites and we are putting more 1,200 unemployed employees so that Michelin makes more profits and gives more dividends to its shareholders“, protested the central CGT union delegate Romain Baciak.
Michelin and Auchan: Barnier asks where the public money has gone
Prime Minister Michel Barnier said on Tuesday that he was “disagree” with the group's decision to close its sites, and indicated that it had met its CEO Florent Menegaux “a few days ago“. “I am concerned to know what we did in these groups with the public money that we gave them“, he stressed to the National Assembly, also referring to Auchanwhich plans to cut 2,389 jobs.
In response, Michelin indicated to theAFP having perceived 42 million euros under the research tax credit (CIR) in 2023. This allows it to make researchers competitive and consolidate its global R&D center in France, i.e. more than 300 researchers based in the center of Ladoux in Clermont-Ferrand, according to a spokesperson.
The Minister of Industry Marc Ferracci asked for his part “an exemplary support plan for employees and territories“.
Michelin: six factories closed in France in twenty years
Michelin is going through a difficult year with the slowdown in the new vehicle market and Asian competition. “It is the collapse of activity which has caused this situation, and I want to tell all these employees that we will not leave anyone behind.“, declared the CEO of Michelin, Florent Menegauxin an interview with theAFP.
Michelin had already significantly reduced its footprint in France, its first country. With Poitiers, Toul, Joué-lès-Tours et La Roche-sur-Yonhe will have closed six factories in twenty years. Bibendum is not the only one who coughs. The sharp slowdown in the automobile market is causing serious difficulties for European equipment manufacturers.
Asian tire competition
According to Michelin, these two new closures have become “inevitable“due to the Asian competition on van and heavy goods vehicle tires, Cholet and Vannes factory sectors. The CEO of Michelin also calls into question a “slow deterioration of competitiveness” of Europe, particularly linked to energy costs, which prevents exports.
The group's CFDT estimated in a press release that “Michelin alone decided on the extreme solution“, while other possibilities existed for Cholet and Vannes.
Michelin promises to create “as many jobs as those eliminated”
The Cholet factory employs 955 employeeswhich mainly manufacture small tires for light trucks, a segment in “significant decline“a Europe”without prospect of recovery“, explains Michelin. The Vannes site has 299 employeeswhich mainly produce wire ropes for truck tires.
Michelin, which has provisioned 330 million euros for these operations, undertakes to “support each of the employees concerned with tailor-made solutions“, job offers in other companies or within the group, or early retirement.
He also promises to “participate in the creation of at least as many jobs as those eliminated” on the territory, as he did in La Roche-sur-Yon, where 635 jobs were created in four years for 613 jobs eliminated, according to the group.
