Michelin will close two factories in Vannes and Cholet: 1,200 jobs lost

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Two factories idled and more than 1,200 employees on the job: Michelin announced on Tuesday the closure of its production sites before 2026. Cholet et Valvescalling into question the “collapse” of sales of tires for trucks and vans.

The management of the French tire manufacturer informed this closure, this Tuesday, November 5, 2024 morning, 1,254 employees of these two factories in the west of Francewho had feared her for several weeks.

Why is the Michelin group making this announcement?

Michelin is going through a difficult year with the slowdown in the new vehicle market and the Asian competition. “It is the collapse of activity that has caused this situation, and I want to tell all these employees that we will not leave anyone behind,” Michelin CEO Florent Menegaux said in an interview withAFP.

Michelin had already significantly reduced its footprint in France, its first country: with Poitiers, Toul, Joué-lès-Tours and La-Roche-sur-Yon, it will have closed six factories in twenty years. The group had also announced a plan to cut 2,300 jobs in France in 2021: there will only be 18,000 employees after the closure of Cholet and Vannes, including 8,000 in industry.

The tire giant is not the only one coughing: the sharp slowdown in the automobile market is causing serious difficulties for European equipment manufacturers, large and small, and site closures are continuing, such as at the rim manufacturer Impériales Wheels and Dumarey Powerglide gearboxes.

The CEO of Michelin also questioned “slow deterioration of competitiveness” of Europe which prevents exports from this continent. The group is also preparing the closure of two factories in Germany by 2025.

What “solutions”?

The group undertakes to “support each of the employees concerned with tailor-made solutions”, with job offers in other companies or in the group, or even early retirement.

It “will also support the two impacted territories by participating in the creation of at least as many jobs as those eliminated,” he promised.

In La-Roche-sur-Yon, 635 jobs were created in four years for 613 jobs eliminated, according to Michelin. In Joué-Lès-Tours, 1,054 jobs were created in four years for 706 jobs eliminated.

The group's union, worried about the future of several French sites, recently broke off discussions with management.

However, Michelin intends to propose to the unions a “Michelin Industrie France 2030” plan, which should allow “French sites and their employees to better plan for the future”.

Source AFP

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