Two factories flat and more than 1,200 employees on the job: Michelin announced on Tuesday the closure before 2026 of its Cholet and Vannes sites, calling into question the “collapse” of sales of tires for trucks and vans.
The management of the French tire manufacturer announced this closure on Tuesday morning to the 1,254 employees of these two factories in western France, who had feared it for several weeks.
In Vannes, “the announcement, made by the director, was greeted with great silence. Everyone blames the blow”, testified Eric Boisgard, employee since 2004 and former CGT union representative.
In Cholet, “they put the 900 employees in a room like cows at the slaughterhouse and announced that it was over,” Morgane Royer, an employee for “almost 10 years” and SUD union delegate, told AFP. “We saw colleagues collapse because they were still in denial.”
“For months, we have been asking ourselves questions,” underlined Romain Déchenau, CFDT union leader. “There were investments, work. They gave us hope, but it was window dressing.”
Employees blocked the site shortly after management's announcements, which had planned to stop production until November 13 anyway.
“Either they keep our jobs, or they pay us until we retire,” said CGT secretary David Goubault into the microphone.
“They have exploited us for years. Us, our parents for some, our children for others. We must not be satisfied with what they give us. It is not by going home and being gloomy that it will be discussed. We will have to start a fight,” added Mr. Goubault.
– Market slowdown –
Michelin is going through a difficult year with the slowdown in the new vehicle market and 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 with the AFP.
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 Minister of Industry Marc Ferracci reacted on Tuesday by asking for “an exemplary support plan for employees and territories”.
Bibendum is not the only one who coughs. The sharp slowdown in the automobile market is causing serious difficulties for European equipment manufacturers and site closures are continuing.
According to Michelin, these closures have become “inevitable” due to Asian competition in van and heavy goods vehicle tires, the sectors of the Cholet and Vannes factories.
The CEO of Michelin also blamed a “slow deterioration in competitiveness” in Europe, particularly linked to energy costs, which prevents exports. The group is also preparing the closure of two factories in Germany by 2025.
The national secretary of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, condemned these closures on Tuesday, after announcing them on Sunday. “The automobile industry continues to lay off workers, using Chinese imports as an excuse. Lies! Margins on the one hand, and the cost of energy on the other are responsible,” he said on X.
– “Sans perspective” –
The large factory in Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) employs 955 employees, who mainly manufacture small tires for light trucks, a segment in “significant decline” in Europe “with no prospect of recovery”, explains Michelin.
The Vannes (Morbihan) site has 299 employees who mainly produce metal cables for heavy-duty tires.
Michelin undertakes to “support each of the employees concerned with tailor-made solutions”, with job offers in other companies or within the group, or early retirement.
He also promises to “participate in the creation of at least as many jobs as those eliminated” in the region, as he did in La Roche-sur-Yon, where 635 jobs were created in four years for 613 jobs eliminated, indicates the group.
Michelin also intends to propose to the unions a “Michelin Industry France 2030” plan, which according to the company should allow “French sites and their employees to better plan for the future”.
