More than 60 years of history and then gone. In 2023, the factory celebrated its 60th anniversary in Vannes. The Morbihan site, which employs nearly 300 employees, will close its doors no later than 2026, announced this Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the management of the French tire giant, just like that of Cholet (Maine-et-Loire). Workers gathered in the morning in front of the site located in the Prat area to express their anger and disgust. For Anne le Hénanff, Horizons deputy for the Vannes constituency, “It’s a shock and a lot of sadness. In Vannes there is an almost intimate link between the city, the Vannes region and the Michelin factory, it is part of our identity in Vannes. These 300 people are residents, we know them and we know that it will be complicated and painful for them in the months to come“.
Questions to the government
During the government questions session this Tuesday, before the National Assembly, Anne le Hénanff questioned the Minister for Industry on the closure of the two Michelin sites in Vannes and Cholet. Marc Ferracci assured that he had contacted the company's management demanding exemplary social support for employees. Michelin management is committed to this and specifies that it will create “as many jobs as it eliminates within a 50 kilometer radius“. For the parliamentarian, questioned on France Bleu, “the idea is to recreate at least 300 jobs on this site, but really at a minimum. We will have to be very active and vigilant, even demanding on the offers that will be made“.
“I want to send a message of hope”
With the mayor of Vannes and president of the agglomeration, David Robo, and the prefect of Morbihan, Anne le Hénanff calls for mobilization to successfully reindustrialize the site and save jobs as Michelin is committed to doing. It intends to monitor in real time the support measures that will be put in place for employees “I want to send a message of hope, but then there are things that cannot be controlled, it is the suffering that the employees feel in relation to this situation, since they are very attached to the factory Michelin“. She underlines the tense employment situation in Vannes with many offers which are not filled.n Brittany we have a value that unites us, it is solidarity, I am absolutely convinced that everyone will feel concerned by what is happening in the Michelin factory and that everyone will contribute to finding a solution for these 300 people“.
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