Home » News » “The question is not the future of a particular factory, but simply the future of Renault”, says a trade unionist

“The question is not the future of a particular factory, but simply the future of Renault”, says a trade unionist

Interim chief executive Clotilde Delbos announced Friday that Renault may cut factories as part of a huge savings plan.

“The question is not the future of a particular factory, but the future of Renault”, said Fabien Gâche, CGT central union representative at Renault on Friday February 14 on Franceinfo. Interim chief executive Clotilde Delbos announced Friday that the car manufacturer could shut down factories as part of a huge savings plan after recording a net loss of 140 million euros. This is his first loss since 2009.

Franceinfo: Are you worried about these announcements?

Fabien Gache: Worrisome, but at the same time, we are following on from what we have known at Renault for fifteen years. That is to say, year after year, in the name of cost reduction, there is a very significant drop in its workforce. On the one hand, Renault has had 25,000 fewer employees since 2004, since the arrival of Carlos Ghosn. And it is at the same time a delocalization of its productions in countries outside of France especially in Spain, Morocco, Turkey or Slovenia. This means that France at the end of 2019 produces only 17% of private vehicles.

Do you feel threatened in these comments as employees?

It’s a bit of the strategy that is known at Renault. On the one hand, we have a directorate general who describes to us, at least publicly, a catastrophic financial situation. It is necessary to relativize. And on the other hand, a requirement from the employees explaining to them that all risk dying, maybe not all of them will die, on the assumption that everyone accepts social lowest-priced. As we are in the framework of a negotiation on a competitiveness agreement we find a little the diagram of 2013. Basically, we threaten the employees: “if you do not accept new social underdogs, some may no longer have of work. “

Are you afraid that French factories will no longer build Renault models in the future?

In the current diagram, it is that by 2021, the three thermal vehicles which are still manufactured in France, that are the Scenic on the factory of Douai, the Space or the Talisman will stop. In other words, in the absence of new projects, Renault will no longer produce any particular vehicle in France. So the question is not the future of a particular factory, but simply the future of Renault.

How many employees live with this reality that can be considered threatening?

Including subsidiaries, it is 40,000 employees. However, we believe that reducing costs means rebalancing manufacturing volumes. Because we have relocated, which amounts to under-using French factories, suddenly we are increasing fixed costs. And we overuse factories located in Turkey and Slovenia, where social conditions are particularly degraded. The Turks are made to work 7 days a week. So, we believe that lowering costs, as Ms. Delbos indicates, starts by reallocating production volumes in French factories. This would allow the entire Renault production perimeter to work at 100% and therefore meet the social requirements. I am thinking in particular of maintaining or even developing employment on the one hand. But also to move forward on environmental issues because we still forget that Renault in 2018 re-imported into France more than 400,000 cars manufactured abroad.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.