Valeo announces the elimination of 868 positions in France

The automotive supplier Valeo plans to cut 868 positions on eight of its French sites, the group's management communicated on Wednesday, November 27, without specifying the deadline. Valeo management announced to employees 694 forced departures and 174 voluntary departures, according to a group spokesperson contacted by Agence France-Presse.

The sites of La Suze-sur-Sarthe (Sarthe) and La Verrière (Yvelines) will be closed. Most of their employees will be offered positions at other nearby Valeo sites. The L'Isle-d'Abeau (Isère) site will not close, but will reduce its workforce, with 70 employees instead of 308 so far. The sites of Sainte-Florine (Haute-Loire), Reims (Marne), Laval (Mayenne), Amiens (Somme) and Limoges (Haute-Vienne) are also affected.

According to the Force Ouvrière (FO) union, the total would in fact be 1,282 job cuts, out of 13,500 employees in France, if the employees refuse their transfer and if we also take into account vacant positions eliminated. In addition, 200 positions could be cut in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland.

“The timetable and modalities will be discussed afterwards”

This announcement is “a project” dont “the timetable and modalities will be discussed afterwards”said the group's spokesperson. “We worked to have a plan that protects production operators”who are not affected by forced departures, he stressed.

“It’s a dramatic announcement”reacted Bertrand Bellanger, from FO. “Reducing costs may be necessary, but sacrificing jobs and weakening the future of the sector in France is a strategic error”he judged. “The electrification of the automobile represents a major turning point for the sector. But it must not be to the detriment of employees”he said.

The Valeo group had already announced in January that it was considering cutting 1,150 positions worldwide, including 235 in France, mainly in management positions, out of 109,900 employees worldwide.

Valeo is yet another giant in the automotive sector to suffer from the slowdown in the European automobile market and to announce job cuts, after Michelin, Ford and Bosch.

Specializing in electronic and lighting systems, the equipment manufacturer also suffers from slipping electrification, with “a huge number of postponements of new production launches among manufacturers”explained its general director, Christophe Périllat, at the end of October. Valeo then slightly revised downwards (-3.2%) its turnover target for the year 2024, to 21.3 billion euros.