Referendum endorses 35-hour week deal at Michelin

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On 29 March 2001, the workforce of the French tyre manufacturer Michelin voted in favour of a draft agreement on the 35-hour week in a controversial referendum opposed by a number of trade unions.

Negotiations on the reduction of working time and the introduction of the 35-hour week (in line with the recent legislation on this issue - FR0001137F) began at Michelin, the tyre manufacturer, in January 2000 and continued throughout the year. The talks not only pitted management and trade unions against each other but split the unions themselves.

Management eventually reached a draft 35-hour week agreement solely with the CFDT union and it was decided to consult the workforce directly on approval of the deal, as provided for under the 35-hour week legislation. The CGT union, which received the majority of the votes in the most recent workplace elections of employee representatives at Michelin, along with CGT-FO, were against this consultation on principle, and filed several petitions with the courts to have it annulled. On 26 February 2001, the Clermont-Ferrand magistrate's court (tribunal d'instance_)_ dismissed the petitions, and set 29 March as the date for the consultation of Michelin's 27,000 employees (FR0103135N).

There was a high turn-out in the ballot - 95% of those registered to vote, compared with the usual 50%-60% in workplace elections. Of those voting, 59.57% approved the agreement, However, this overall result masks differences between categories of workers. A majority (51.30% of the vote) in the manual workers and clerical staff electoral college voted "no", with as many of 55% of those working shifts opposing the deal. On the other hand, 97.2% of senior management voted "yes".

The agreement endorsed by the referendum will be applied from 1 May 2001. It provides for 11-15 days' extra days of per year, depending on the employee's working hours. Certain breaks and days off earned through seniority have been incorporated in actual working time. Management views the reduction of working time as a way to gain more flexibility. The agreement thus provides for employees to work on around 15 Saturdays a year. In terms of job creation, the agreement provides for 1,000 new jobs on open-ended contracts. During 2001, wages are set to rise by between 3.5% and 4%, to which a 1% bonus will be added.

CGT, CGT-FO and the newly-created SUD-Michelin remain opposed to the agreements. These unions have stressed the considerable resources mobilised by the management to win the vote. They have criticised the job-creation provisions as a "confidence trick", since a reduction of 7,500 jobs at Michelin's European sites, announced in 1999, is still being carried out (FR9910113F).

CFDT, which is split at local level over this issue, is happy with the referendum result, which it believes has borne out the strategy of its leadership. In this initial agreement, CFDT sees the opportunity to develop future negotiations on themes such as early retirement, profit-sharing schemes and union rights, in a company historically ill-disposed to collective bargaining.

Following the 35-hour week agreement, Michelin management is planning to negotiate an "end of career agreement" (convention de cessation d'activité, CCA) aimed at the group's oldest employees, particularly shiftworkers aged over 55. Around 4,000 workers would be covered by such an agreement.