Michelin: The plan providing for 1,500 voluntary departures over three years endorsed by several unions

A collective agreement between Michelin and the unions? The CFDT, Sud and CFE-CGC representatives of the French tire manufacturer announced on Friday that they were signing an agreement after the announcement, in May, of a voluntary departure system affecting “up to 1,500 positions” over three years.

For its part, the CGT declared that it was not signing the text. “There are still job cuts that will not be replaced and this will cause additional work for the remaining employees,” declared Romain Baciak, CGT central union delegate. The CFDT, which initialed the agreement, specifies for its part that “it does not, however, endorse the objective of 1,500 job cuts”.

This collective agreement known as “management of jobs and career paths” (GEPP) will come into force on January 1, 2027, for a period of three years. According to a union document, the latter provides for “certain end-of-career measures and a voluntary external mobility system”. In particular, it offers mobility leave of 12 to 15 months, paid at 70% of the gross reference salary for the first 12 months then at 80% from the 13th to the 15th. An employee earning 3,000 euros gross will therefore be paid 2,100 euros gross,

Still according to this document, the employment contract will be suspended and the employee will benefit from support for their professional project. Aid of 25,000 euros will be allocated for the creation or takeover of a business, and another of up to 11,000 euros for training. In any case, each employee, in the event of departure, will receive in addition to the legal compensation, compensation of 10 months' salary and 0.35 months per year of seniority. Finally, the GEPP includes several possibilities for end-of-career adjustments.

This departure plan, which affects “up to 1,500 positions”, concerns two thirds of tertiary functions (mainly at the group's headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand) and a third in industry. Michelin currently employs 17,000 people in France, where it still has 13 industrial sites.

Machine-translated from French