VIDEO. In Cholet, employees of the Michelin factory distraught by the announced closure of the site

In Cholet (Maine-et-Loire), the 955 employees of the Michelin factory are stunned. They learned, Tuesday, November 5 in the morning, of the closure of their factory by 2026. The first tire left this factory in 1970. The site is at a standstill and the unions have announced a week of strike in response. . “Michelin is a group that is capable of keeping our jobs, of paying us”assures David Goubault, CGT Michelin Cholet union representative.

How did this 135-year-old French flagship of industry get there? Management justifies its decision by a sluggish automobile market for several years, the surge in energy prices and Chinese competition. “Energy costs in Europe and France are twice as high as the cost of energy in Asia or the United States”indicates Pierre-Louis Dubourdeau, Michelin Group Manufacturing Director. The Cholet site is not the only one affected: the 299 employees of Vannes also learned of the closure of their factory on Tuesday morning.

Watch the full report in the video above.