Michelin, the French tire giant, closes a factory and dismisses 600 employees

The management will propose a plan to "support" the employees of La Roche-sur-Yon during early retirement measures and internal and external mobilization, announced the group in a statement.

"Michelin will give every employee the opportunity to stay in the company in France", promised the world's second largest tire manufacturer.

The closure of the La Roche-sur-Yon (west-central) plant, planned before the end of 2020, will also concern 74 people working in a factory in the nearby town of Cholet.

"We have been trying to maintain the factory for years, but it is impossible, market conditions no longer allow it," said Michelin president Florent Menegaux in an interview with the newspaper. West France.

"The site is small and, despite the investments we have made to try to give it a critical size, it is not efficient enough in terms of industrial costs," he said.

This is due to "difficulties in the premium truck tire market, both in Europe and abroad", with a stagnant European market "and more intense competition".

An argument rejected by the union SUD Michelin, which denounces a "betrayal". The workers "are not responsible for the catastrophic strategy of margins and price (…) that leads to this social disaster," said the union, which called for an "unlimited strike" and an "urgent meeting" with the Minister of Economy, Bruno. The mayor.

At the end of 2018, the group employed 110,000 full-time employees, including more than 20,000 in France, where the company has about 15 industrial centers.