“We are at the start of a violent industrial bloodletting. » In an interview with La Tribune on Sunday, the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet, sounded the alarm on employment in French industry, after the announcement of social plans at Michelin and Auchan.
“It is estimated that more than 150,000 jobs will disappear, probably more,” according to the head of the union center, who predicts a “domino effect” on the subcontractors of “major contractors”.
According to Sophie Binet, the “bleeding” will hit “all sectors”, and is “due each time to the same strategy of these companies”. Namely “always increase margins”, on the one hand, and “always distribute more profits to shareholders”, on the other hand.
In the case of Michelin, the French tire giant which announced on November 5 the closure before 2026 of the Cholet and Vannes sites, the group is “closing the sites to finance the cost of capital”, after “record dividend payments” , according to Sophie Binet. In total, 1,254 jobs are threatened.
A “moratorium”
The CGT has drawn up a list of social plans and this “closes to 200”, she assured, estimating that “all sectors are impacted”, in particular the automobile, manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, but also chemistry. The central union is demanding a “real industrial policy”, and that a “company cannot receive aid (from the State, Editor's note) if the opinion of staff representatives is unfavorable”, explained Sophie Binet.
In the immediate future, for Michelin, the CGT is asking for a “moratorium to avoid layoffs, to avoid these tragedies and preserve our industrial tools, our qualifications”. Thursday, traveling to Pont-de-Claix, to support the striking employees of the Vencorex factory, where 5,000 jobs are threatened, she announced a “day of convergence of all struggles for employment” in France on the 12th. next December.
VideoMichelin closes its factories in Vannes and Cholet, 1,254 employees on the job
On Saturday, the Minister of Industry Marc Ferracci shared the observation, estimating at the microphone of France Inter that “there will probably be announcements of site closures in the coming weeks and months”. The social balance sheet “will be counted in thousands of jobs”, according to him, referring to the automobile, aeronautics, chemicals and even metallurgy sectors.
Faced with this situation, the minister recommends a European response, in particular to support the automobile sector. Among the measures mentioned, Marc Ferracci envisages “an ecological bonus on a European scale”, a “common European loan” to finance “support mechanisms” for the sector.
