It was an announcement that caused quite a stir. Justifying this decision by the slowdown in car sales in Europe, the automotive supplier Valeo announced on Wednesday November 27, 2024 that it planned to cut 868 positions on eight of its French sites.
At the Laval site (Mayenne), specializing in the manufacture of car radiators and employing 278 people on permanent contracts and around twenty temporary workers, “15 employees are impacted. They are mainly in the Research and Development (R&D) department,” explains Mickaël Lerioux, CFDT union representative.
“We thought we would be more affected”
He learned the news this Wednesday, mid-afternoon. “We suspected that we could potentially have problems, but we did not know on which services. But, given that our activity is in deficit, we thought we would be more affected,” he notes.
The impacted positions have not yet been designated, “which creates great tension, since everyone in the R&D department wonders whether they are affected or not.” Negotiations regarding this Jobs Protection Plan should begin on December 10, “and last four months. This will mainly be to see how to support employees, to whom we could offer mobility to other sites. »
“The future is uncertain”
“For now, we are alive, summarizes Mickaël Lerioux. But the future is uncertain. » Already in 2021, he was sounding the alarm regarding the sluggish activity at the Laval site, because it is linked to thermal engines doomed to disappear. A reality that had been recognized by Valeo: the company had set up a working group in 2020 to “think about the different future opportunities for the Laval site”.
Contacted this Thursday, November 28 in the morning, the Valeo company in Laval did not respond to our requests.
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