Will the fate of the Michelin factories in Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) and Vannes (Morbihan) be sealed very soon?
Guest of the show Sunday in politics on France 3, the national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF), Fabien Roussel assured this Sunday, November 3, 2024 that the French tire giant would announce “in the days to come” the closure of these two sites. They employ nearly 1000 and 300 employees respectively.
Temporary shutdown measures in certain factories
For several weeks, rumors of closures have been persistent in these factories. The health of the automobile market as a whole is fragile, and that of tire manufacturers as well. On October 23, the Michelin group revealed its results: worldwide sales in the third quarter were 3.4% lower than expected targets. Even if the accounts remain solid, concern is growing among employees.
In Vannes, a site specializing in metal tire frames, a measure to temporarily stop manufacturing was taken. Unions have been warning about the drop in activity for several months. “Obviously, people are a little uncertain. They ask questions about the future. For four years, the factory had made a good comeback. Currently, there is a drop in volume, we can clearly see it”recently testified in the columns ofWest France an employee of the site, which had up to 1,500 people.
“We understood that the situation was complicated”
At this stage, the announcement of factory closures has not been confirmed by the management of the Michelin group. At the beginning of October, it indicated that its factory in Troyes (Aube), which manufactures agricultural tires, and that of Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire), specializing in civil engineering, were going to be shut down for approximately three weeks between now and the end of 2024. The group also emphasized having noted “decreases in activity due to structural load problems” on its sites in Vannes, Cholet, and Tours (Indre-et-Loire).
For Ludovic Robert, CFDT union delegate on the Michelin Cholet site, Fabien Roussel did not “threw this by chance”. For the trade unionist, the employees have “ understood that the situation was complicated, that restructuring was necessary. But between restructuring and closing, there are still two worlds”.
