ECONOMY – “These people do not live in the same world as us.” At the Michelin factory in La Roche-sur-Yon, anger does not go down. When questioned by France Bleu Vendée, the dismissed employees of the company still can’t believe it: they will have to reimburse Michelin for the tires of their personal car acquired at preferential prices.
Each year, all employees of the group can actually acquire a set of four brand tires to equip their personal vehicle. And this for a price equivalent to 25% of that paid by the public.
“It’s very small”
Only as part of the negotiations around the closure of the Vendée factory, announced on October 10, 2019, Michelin announced to unions that employees will have to return the tires. Or pay them back. And this at a variable rate depending on the wear, explains the site of the local radio.
“Getting us to work in the Michelin group and charging us for tires when we are laid off is very small,” says Anthony Guilloteau, CGT union representative, still with France Bleu.
Affected by market difficulties and competition from low-cost Asian tires, the brand in the Bibendum also announced the closure by 2021 of its Bamberg plant in Germany, which employs 858 people.
The Bibendum brand employs more than 125,000 people and operates 67 tire factories which together produced around 190 million tires in 2018, according to Michelin.
See also on The HuffPost: Two of their colleagues are fired, all the workers leave work and leave
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