2023-10-04 23:01:55
The automotive supplier Marelli (formerly Magneti-Marelli) announced the closure of two French factories, according to the unions and a communication from management, threatening nearly 300 jobs in Argentan (Orne) and Saint-Julien-du-Sault (Yonne). ).
For the larger of the two, in Orne, management announced on Wednesday a job protection plan (PSE), which should result in the closure of the site in early 2024 and the dismissal of its 167 employees, according to the inter-union CGT, CFE-CGC, CFDT. The company also announced in a press release the closure of the factory in Saint-Julien-du-Sault (Yonne), threatening “125 positions”.
Marelli explained that “over the last two years the factory has only worked at 30% of its capacity”, “reports a significant operating loss of more than 24 million euros between 2018 and 2022” . and judged that “market forecasts are negative for the years to come”.
A strike shook this Yonne factory in November 2021, with employees already fearing a closure of the site where high-end rear headlights for cars are manufactured.
A relocation of production to Slovakia
In Argentan, the inter-union indicated in a press release: “After several months of lies and deception on the part of the management of the Marelli group, the sentence has fallen: the opening of a PSE with the only prospect, a closure definitive in early 2024 of the historic Marelli site based in Argentan since 1970.” This former Solex factory produces throttle bodies, which supply air to gasoline engines, for cars of many brands, but also for BMW motorcycles, for example.
According to the inter-union, joined by France Blue, the factory’s turnover was good, Marelli Argentan was profitable in 2022 and should be profitable at the end of 2023. Management indicated to its employees that it was a project to relocate production in Slovakia. CGT, CFE-CGC and CFD see this in particular as the influence of the majority shareholder, the American fund KKR. Contacted, representatives of the factory management did not react on Wednesday.
“Three leads fell through”
At the start of the year, employees went on strike for three weeks, after discovering elements at the end of 2022 that made them fear relocation. The social movement resulted in an agreement with management guaranteeing them a one-year reprieve, where three other avenues, including that of a potential buyer, were mentioned, said a representative of the inter-union contacted by telephone.
“These three avenues fell through, we learned in July that the buyer was throwing in the towel,” said the same source, “however, we thought we would be protected until the beginning of 2024, thanks to the agreement “. At the end of the PSE, which should “take three months”, “167 employees will find themselves unemployed, faced with the mentioned transfer of our production lines to Slovakia”, indicated the representative of the inter-union.
“We didn’t expect that, people really took a hit on the head,” said this source, even if since the closure two weeks ago of a “sister factory” in Italy, a foundry which delivered the parts to Argentan for assembly, “we were very, very pessimistic”.
“A search for short-term profitability”
The announcement created “a lot of emotion, some people were crying”, he continued, stressing that some “had been working there for 40 years”. The mayor of Argentan, Frédéric Leveillé, provided his “support” to the factory employees in a press release, referring to a “disastrous decision” for the workers and the region.
“This decision is a misunderstanding for all of us, because two recent audits commissioned (…) demonstrated the competitiveness of the site,” he indicated, “I strongly denounce the decision of the American-Japanese pension fund KKR, majority shareholder of Marelli, to sacrifice the Argentan factory, with the sole objective of seeking short-term profitability.”
According to the unions cited by France Bleu, “the Argentan site would be more profitable than that of Kechnec, the Slovak town where production must be relocated”. An extraordinary CSE will take place on October 12.
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