In difficulty, Favorol Papaux is laying off its 95 employees

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02/19/2020

On the brink of the abyss, the Friborg company Favorol Papaux will probably not be able to pay the wages for February, according to the unions. Specializing in the manufacture of windows and blinds, it has just laid off its 95 employees.

The industrial flagship established in Treyvaux (FR), in the Sarine district, is in a desperate situation. “The staff voted on Tuesday evening a collective demand to preserve their rights, so that management fulfills their obligations within three days,” Armand Jaquier, regional secretary of Unia, told Keystone-ATS on Wednesday.

If wages are not paid on February 25, so Tuesday, employees will be released and can register unemployed without risk of being penalized for breaking their obligations. According to Armand Jaquier, who is acting on the file in concert with the Syna union, Favorol Papaux has almost no cash left.

By the end of February

Events have rushed in since Monday for Favorol Papaux and a first inventory of fixtures on the difficulties with the personnel commission and the trade unions. On Tuesday, the company announced to the employees their dismissal for the end of February, with the initiation of a consultation procedure.

“Despite several restructurings, the situation continued its negative trend in 2019,” Favorol Papaux said in a statement. The Sarinese company has experienced problems for years, with the workforce that has halved in the space of five years, to 95 employees today.

Desperate act

Simultaneously Tuesday, two members of management announced their plans to buy the company via a management buy-out, with the maintenance of 55 jobs. By noting the contradictory side of the thing, Armand Jaquier notes that Favorol Papaux is in a situation of unfair dismissals for non respect of the procedure.

The two directors, who have just returned to operational management, indicated before the staff assembly that the chances of success of their design were estimated at only 10%. “It is a desperate act”, cuts the unionist of Unia, for which it is necessary nevertheless to try to discuss the maintenance of jobs on the site.

Favorol Papaux therefore appears at the end of the year with one year to celebrate its centenary in 2021. The company says it suffered a drop in orders and late payments in 2019 to explain a situation where turnover has declined significantly. In 2016, it closed its Crissier (VD), Acacias (GE) and Sion sites.

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