by Gilles Guillaume

PARIS (Reuters) – Valeo announced on Wednesday its intention to cut around a thousand jobs in Europe in the coming months, mainly in France, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as well as the closure of its factory of La Suze-sur-Sarthe and the transfer of the activity of its R&D site in La Verrière (Yvelines).

Latest example of ongoing restructuring in the automotive sector due to the switch to electric and the slowdown in the market, the automotive equipment manufacturer, specialist in driving aids and hybridization systems, plans to cut 868 jobs in France – mainly through forced departures – and 150 jobs in three other European countries, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, the sources added.

The decisions presented Wednesday in the European Group Committee, which affect eight of Valeo’s 37 production and R&D sites in France, aim to optimize the industrial footprint in France in particular to adapt it to the current reduction in automobile production, a spokesperson for the equipment manufacturer told Reuters.

Valeo currently employs around 14,000 people in France, its second country in terms of workforce after China.

The number of departures announced, which concern several segments of activity – thermal, electrical systems and clutches – would represent around 6% of the workforce in France, but in a leaflet, the Force Ouvrière union estimated that the toll could reach 1,200 positions , or nearly 9% of the group’s jobs in France.

“The electrification of the automobile represents a major turning point for the sector, but it must not be to the detriment of employees,” FO said in its leaflet.

“Reducing costs may be necessary, but sacrificing jobs and weakening the future of the sector in France is a strategic error”, adds the union which deplores “a lack of anticipation”.

If the La Verrière R&D site will close its doors, the majority of its employees – 365 out of 390 – will be offered a position at two other Valeo locations in the Paris region, the sources said.

THE BLACK SERIES CONTINUES

The group founded in 1923 had again revised downwards its turnover target for 2024 at the end of October due to a deterioration in the automobile market in the second half of the year as well as uncertainties surrounding production volumes and the pace of adoption. electric vehicles.

The black streak for employment in France continues after Michelin’s decision to close two factories, leading to the elimination of around 1,250 jobs.

In Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), the Dumarey-Powerglide factory, specializing in automatic gearboxes, will reduce its workforce by approximately half after the loss of the factory’s main customer, the German equipment manufacturer ZF, while in Caudan (Morbihan), employees of the former Renault foundry fear again for their future.

According to the local press, a consultation meeting is being organized this Wednesday between the State, Renault and the new possible buyer, the German group Private Assets. Renault sold the Breton site in 2022 to the Callista investment fund, which is selling it today.

At the beginning of the month, Industry Minister Marc Ferracci announced that he expected new announcements of factory closures in France “in the coming weeks and months”, which will affect “thousands of jobs”.

Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, quantified this acceleration in the number of social plans on Wednesday in Les Echos, reporting, across all sectors, 250 layoff plans in preparation, threatening between 170,000 and 200,000 jobs.

The problem is also European, as shown by the restructuring also undertaken at automotive supplier Bosch, Schaeffler and Continental.

And if the equipment manufacturers find themselves on the front line, the manufacturers are not spared, as shown by the significant job cuts planned by Volkswagen and Ford in Europe.

Stellantis confirmed on Wednesday during a Joint Strategic Committee the activity prospects of all its French factories by 2027, but at the same time announced the closure of its Luton assembly site, in Great Britain, threatening more than a thousand jobs.

In a sector faced with significant investments to move away from thermal engines as well as growing competition from low-cost Chinese electric vehicles, the problem is also global: Stellantis and General Motors will reduce their workforce in the United States, and Nissan will do the same on a global scale.

(Report by Gilles Guillaume, edited by Blandine Hénault)

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