Closing announced for the large paper mill in Rouen

France will soon have a large paper mill less: that operated by Essity in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (Seine-Maritime). So decided Essity, the Swedish group owner since 2012 of this site in the suburbs of Rouen where are mbad-produced rolls of toilet paper and paper towels, sold under private label.

The judgment of the production is programmed "by the end of 2018" announced Essity. It will result in the elimination of all positions, ie 123 jobs. The machines should be dismantled, and the site sold empty to a potential buyer. The restructuring is expected to cost about SEK 480 million, the equivalent of EUR 47 million, according to Essity.

The Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray plant was opened in 1973 by the Sodipan group, then had changed several times as owner, before being taken over in 2012 by Svenska Cellulosa, which has since become Essity. The Scandinavian industrialist had found Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in the trash when he had bought all the European activities of his American rival Georgia Pacific, including the Lotus brand, the "Rolls of toilet paper."

Among the badets thus acquired, the site of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray had a weakness: it is the only Essity factory in France that does not produce the paper it transforms itself. It has to come by reels from other industrial sites. "It was a structural handicap from the beginning", we recognize the headquarters. Today, this factory is not profitable, provides management.

See also:
        
    
                Lotus revives the war of baby diapers
    

In 2016, when the group was still called Svenska Cellulosa, leaders had already sought to cut costs by halving the workforce. Nearly 130 posts were then cut at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, with the discontinuation of the manufacture of toilet paper "sheet" (paper "entangled") and the activity of "tableware" "(Towels, disposable tablecloths and paper plates). The hope was then that the factory would regain the competitiveness it lacked

20 million euros invested in other French sites

In the spring of 2018, the management nevertheless began to discuss with the unions a new restructuring. Unions and politicians are alarmed. "Despite very comfortable financial results – the group recorded a net profit up 21% at the end of 2017 – Essity plans to close the Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray site at the end of 2018" alerted the MP for Seine-Maritime Hubert Wulfranc (Left Democrat and Republican), in March. In a written question, he asked the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, what provisions he intended to take for "to preserve jobs at risk".

In practice, Essity negotiated a generous social plan with staff representatives. "This is one of the best in the sector", recognizes Pascal Vigreux, CGT. Some 40 people should be able to be reclbadified in the group. And those who leave will receive in principle a check of a significant amount. While closing the plant in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Essity intends to invest 20 million euros on its other French sites and promises to create 120 positions. Contrary to fears, no job will be eliminated in the other Norman plant of Essity, that of Hondouville (Eure).

"People thanked us for having negotiated well, tells Pascal Vigreux . Everything we asked the management, we got it. We had prepared for a conflict, we had bought banners and trumpets to demonstrate. We did not need to use it. I will try to resell them … "