The pharmaceutical group refuses to qualify as a “social plan” its intention to cut some 1,000 jobs in France.
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The Sanofi logo at the entrance of the group’s headquarters in Paris, March 27, 2020
France is “at the center” of Sanofi’s strategy, assured on Saturday Paul Hudson, the managing director of the pharmaceutical group, refusing to qualify as “social plan” his intention to cut some 1,000 jobs there.
“I confirm Sanofi’s desire to give France a central place in its strategy more than ever. We are going to make massive investments there, in particular to build a new generation vaccine manufacturing plant in Neuville-sur-Saône which will allow us to create hundreds of new jobs, “he said in a statement. “We must help build the health sovereignty of Europe and France,” he adds.
According to him, “the measures we are presenting in France today are not a new social plan, they result from clear strategic choices at the group level which place France at the center. This will be seen in the coming months and the next years”.
1,700 job cuts in Europe
Sanofi announced Friday it wants to cut up to 1,700 jobs in Europe, including a thousand in France, against the background of growing turnover, angering unions just a year after the announcement of a previous plan to reduce ‘staff.
The manager explained that he wanted to recruit “new skills” (artificial intelligence, gene therapy) and make “workforce adjustments in certain areas”. “In France, about a thousand jobs out of the 25,000 that the group has there will be eliminated in the next three years in the form of volunteering, so an average of 350 per year,” said Paul Hudson.
According to Sunday Journal, two collective agreement termination plans (RCC) will be proposed to the France works council on Monday, one for Sanofi Aventis and the other for Sanofi Winthrop, targeting a total of 523 voluntary departures of employees with at least 10 years of seniority and a professional project. The group has not confirmed these elements.
Jean-Marc Burlet, from CFE-CGC, confirmed that he was aware of a proposal “a priori of RCC, therefore departures on a voluntary basis”, without however having quantified details.
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