The French manufacturer is in full difficulty. A restructuring plan was made public Friday morning. Report at the Renault factory in Flins, one of the historic sites of the diamond brand now suspended.
Between 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., a crossover of cars takes place on Friday, May 29, in front of the entrance to the Renault factory in Flins, located in Flins-sur-Seine in the Yvelines. The morning team hands over to the afternoon team. Employees have learned the content of announcements made by Renault on Friday during an extraordinary central social and economic committee (CCSE). The automaker has announced 15,000 job cuts worldwide, including 4,600 in France. But there will be no dry layoffs, the group swears. Its two billion euro savings plan over three years also involves industrial restructuring, notably with threatened sites and the closure of the Choisy-le-Roi plant in Val-de-Marne.
Karim, hired for four years, was among those present when management announced the closure of the Choisy-le-Roi plant, which includes 260 employees to repair engines and gearboxes used for re-use. This activity will therefore be transferred to Flins, just like some others. Karim couldn’t believe his ears: “How are people going to make long-term loans?” As for Renault’s historic site, the Flins factory, it will no longer produce any car in a few years. “On the future of Flins, I’m desperate”, says Karim.
This sequence of news from October 1952 reminds us, however, that Flins is Renault’s flagship. The oldest factory since the closure of Boulogne-Billancourt, 400,000 vehicles, 20,000 employees in the 1970s. La Dauphine, 4L, R5, then Clio. The cradle of Renault’s bestsellers.
Today, on these 230 hectares, 2,600 employees are only building one car there since the Nissan Micra chains stopped. It is the Zoé, a small electric car. And when its production ceases around 2024, there will no longer be a single automobile leaving the Flins factory. Wolkan, who came to work here for this, is shocked: “Since I left school, I have been making cars. Suddenly, they tell me to stop. I want to make cars, not engines or gearboxes.”
Flins’ difficulties do not date from the coronavirus crisis. Uncertainty has hovered over the site for several years. Too large, too close to the Paris job pool, which causes instability in the teams and higher training costs. Xavier is a trainer. He lines up 27 years of factory in Flins, he admits that the site has weaknesses. “Flins is still the oldest factory in the group, the least practical in terms of production, he admits. We are left with only one electric vehicle. We have rumors that we’re going to lose it. So somewhere we more or less expected. “
My father opened in 1952, I will close before leaving.at franceinfo
“You still have to think that if we take down the factory, there will be temporary workers and those hired plus the thousands of people who work indirectly. Thousands and thousands of jobs will be lost”, warns Xavier. And according to Renault CEO Jean-Dominique Senard, Flins will lose a thousand jobs in the deal. In 2024, there should therefore remain 1,600 employees on the site.
Renault employees faced with the announced closure of the Flins factory: listen to the report by Grégoire Lecalot
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