Michelin employees get ‘decent wages’ in France

ROME – Il Michelin group announces the introduction of a so-called “decent” wage and a “universal social protection base” for its 132,000 employees in France and around the world. For the company “the French minimum wage is insufficient”.

The needs of 4 people

This decent salary, specifies the historic tire manufacturer from Clermont-Ferrand, in the heart of France, guarantees workers a remuneration equivalent to the “living wage”, as defined by United Nations Global Compact. More specifically, it would allow “each employee to make up for the essential needs” of a family of four (nutrition, transport, education, healthcare costs) but also to accumulate savings and purchase consumer goods.

Not only maintenance but also entertainment

“It’s a logical commitment with respect to all the group’s employees”, Michelin’s CEO tells Agence France Presse, Florent Menegauxadding that employees “spend time developing and developing the company and we, in return, we give them the means at least for a family of four – two parents and two children – so that a single salary allows them to get accommodation, food, but also entertainment, a bit of savings….”. In a country like France, this represents 39,638 euros per year for a gross salary in Paris, 25.356 euro in the less expensive Clermont-Ferrand. “The minimum wage in France is not sufficient in the eyes of Michelin to meet what we consider a decent wage”, underlines Ménégaux quoted by the French press. Beyond the Alps the minimum wage is 21,203 euros gross per year.

The Spanish case

Active on the concept of a decent minimum wage is certainly there Spain. The government announced last year the 8% increase (equal to 80 euros) for 2023 in the interprofessional minimum wage (Smi), bringing it to 1,080 euros per month for 14 months. On that occasion Sánchez had taken the opportunity to criticize big businesses that enjoy growing profitsalso in Spain, but what they do not increase the wages of their employees – businesses, indeed, seizing the excuse, offered and supported by all central bankers, that otherwise a very dangerous inflation-wage spiral would be activated, even the central bankers forgetting, however, that the inflation we have been experiencing for months is mainly the effect of the extras -business profits, not just energy.