These employees of a tractor manufacturer express their anger in an offbeat way in the Oise

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On either side of the Blaise-Pascal bridge Beauvais (Oise), red funeral crosses, made of odds and ends, are there to attract the attention of motorists passing through this axis. A way to better understand the scale of the social plan that is coming.

This Tuesday, December 3, 2024, around fifty employees of the American tractor manufacturer exported their anger into the public space, with the support of the unions Unsa, Force Ouvrière and CFE-CGC.

Like these black silhouettes that we sometimes see on the side of the roads in places where fatal accidents have occurred, each cross or silhouette represented on this bridge financed by the public authorities materializes one of the 103 posts threatened with the factory AGCO Massey-Ferguson, which represents approximately 6% workforce.

“So many families and humans in distress behind these silhouettes”

According to the unions, “nine positions have been removed from the PES” since last week.

A drop in the ocean on the scale of this behemoth of 3,000 employees, but for the unions, there are no small victories: “There are so many families and humans in distress behind these silhouettes”.

A meeting on December 5 between management and staff representatives

This collective of employees intended through this outing to put pressure on their management, while an undoubtedly decisive negotiation meeting is being held this Thursday, December 5.

“Initially, this social plan concerned 139 positions in France,” recalls a union source, who specifies that this “job loss” is not limited to the Beauvais site of the global tractor giant.

Over the past year, more than 70 service providers with whom we have worked for years have seen their contracts suddenly end. Not to mention all the temporary workers who were put at the end of their mission with the drop in production rates.

For its part, AGCO management says it is “aware of the legitimate emotion aroused by the announcement of a reorganization project” and indicates that it is continuing the dialogue with staff representatives.

Towards a convergence of struggles at the departmental level?

“From what we understand, they intend to transfer certain ranges of tractors to countries with cheap labor,” this UNSA union delegate believes.

The headquarters' project is to have common platforms between all these sites. However, we are in total limbo regarding this global reorganization. How will all these sites work and interact with each other? We don't know anything about it.

Language barriers coupled with geographic distance could make life impossible for these technicians. “If we have a problem on a production line in India or Brazil, how will we resolve it? We don't know anything about it,” cites as an example an employee, who builds a bridge with another social plan threatening a cutting-edge production factory in the Oise.

That of Forvia, in Méru. The automotive supplier is also considering shedding 20% ​​of the workforce in its Research & Development department.

Employees at both sites fear the perverse effects of off-shoringa term which designates the relocation of all or part of production abroad. As well as a massive recourse to artificial intelligence.

A meeting will also take place between employees of these two sites at the Union House tomorrow at 6 p.m. The beginning of a convergence of struggles to unite more widely in the Oise?

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