Michelin, the French-based tyre manufacturer, announced in February 2003 a plan to reduce its Spanish workforce by 1,300 over the next three years. The plan, currently being negotiated with trade unions, provides for early retirement and redeployment for the workers affected.
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Michelin, the French-based tyre manufacturer, announced in February 2003 a plan to reduce its Spanish workforce by 1,300 over the next three years. The plan, currently being negotiated with trade unions, provides for early retirement and redeployment for the workers affected.
In early February 2003, Michelin, the French-based manufacturer of tyres for cars and industrial vehicles, presented a redundancy procedure, aimed at reducing the workforce at its Spanish plants by 1,300 over the next three years. The company proposes to carry out this workforce reduction through a 'competitiveness plan' that it is negotiating with the trade unions, whereby 1,000 workers would go into early retirement and the rest would be redeployed to other plants. Several of Michelin's Spanish factories are relatively near each other (in the Basque Country and Castile), which could facilitate the mobility of the second group of workers.
The reduction in production at Michelin stems from major cuts made by motor manufacturers in the production of cars and agricultural vehicles. A flexibility plan that was in force in Michelin's Spanish plants between 1997 and 2002, under which 1,900 workers took pre-retirement and 2,400 new workers were recruited with a major investment in technological improvements, is no longer sufficient. When this plan was introduced it seemed to the unions to be a good exchange, because more jobs were created than lost, even though the new jobs were less stable in terms of contracts and pay. In the current plan the only compensatory measure is that there will be no dismissals, but the aim at the moment is to reduce production. Though Michelin is proposing investment to increase its production capacity in the future, this amounts to only EUR 200 million across all five Spanish factories. For this reason, the Michelin multi-plant workers' committee has not yet issued its response, though it seems inclined to accept the company's offer as a 'lesser evil'.
This is a further recent case in which auxiliary companies of the motor manufacturing sector producing tyres, cabling (eg Lear- ES0206201N) or other components (eg Valeo- ES0303202N) are faced with cuts in production due to falling international sales. This situation is leading to a wave of redundancies. The companies, in agreement with the workers' committees, tend to adjust their workforces through pre-retirement, and redeployment to other factories if they have them or dismissals if they do not. This has been happening with a certain frequency in recent months in the industrial zones of Spain. According to commentators, because pre-retirement is not a highly traumatic measure (ES0204206F), it tends to be accepted by the workers' representatives. However, it has fairly serious effects on the public finances and consequently on the public, who ultimately pay for the pre-retirement. Nor, it is claimed, does it seem to be a good solution for society, because it often involves a wastage of valuable human resources.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2003), Job cuts announced at Michelin, article.
