Valeo plans to eliminate 1,150 positions worldwide, including 235 in France, mainly in management positions, the management of the French automobile supplier and two unions of the group indicated this Thursday, January 18.
Merger of two divisions of the company.
This reorganization project is related to the merger of two divisions (“PTS” and “THS”) that manufacture parts for hybrid and electric vehicles, management explained to AFP.
Presented to the unions on Wednesday, this “project aims to regroup and reorganize these two activities into a single operational entity”, according to management, which ensures that affected employees will receive “support”.
“We want to strengthen our competitiveness to have a more agile, coherent and complete organization,” said a spokesperson for the equipment manufacturer.
735 positions are affected in Europe, out of a total of 109,900 group employees worldwide.
In France, where the group has 13,000 employees, 235 positions would be eliminated at the Cergy, Créteil and La Verrière plants in the Ile-de-France, according to the CGT and FO unions.
Fears for 2024
For FO, “this acceleration suggests a more than uncertain future for French sites.”
The equipment manufacturer had already announced the elimination of 89 positions at its clutch center in Amiens (Somme) to orient it more towards electrification, while the clutch activity for thermal engines at this site must leave for Turkey.
“We fear that 2024 will be a very dark year,” warns Bertrand Bellanger, of the FO union. “What will happen to the sites that focus more on thermal products? We are very, very concerned.”
The CGT denounced in a statement a statement that, according to it, “will contribute to degrading the working conditions of the employees who remain in the group.”
“At a time when politicians are talking about reindustrialization of the country,” the CGT is “convinced that Valeo must assume its responsibilities and that the shareholder State cannot allow this new social rupture to occur.”
The French State has been the largest shareholder of the equipment manufacturer since 2019, with 5.2% of the capital in the hands of the public investment bank Bpifrance and 2.14% in the hands of the Caisse des Dépôts, for a total of 7. 34% of the shares.
After a first half of 2023 in which the company obtained better results than the entire automotive industry, Valeo saw its turnover fall in the third quarter (-1%), in an undecided automotive market.
For 2024, the group’s CEO, Christophe Périllat, stated at the end of October that slow growth of the automobile market is expected, given the economic context, “so Valeo’s cost reduction efforts will be very important,” underlines.
Source: BFM TV
