Major Renault union CFE-CGC has welcomed the automaker’s decision to increase recruitment as well as consolidate its manufacturing base in France.
The labour body’s reaction is in stark contrast to comments made by the more hardline CGT union, which last week cast doubt on Renault’s plans, saying for example the recruitment of 400 manufacturing positions, was “a hypothesis.”
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However, the CFE-CGC is far more positive about Renault’s strategy to 2013, noting its policies were “heartening” for employees who had “started to despair about the future of the brand and the worries that were weighing on their jobs.”
Some 1,600 new posts in engineering, 400 in manufacturing and 2,700 in what Renault terms “study contracts” could be phased in during the next few years and the CFE-CGC’s ratification of the manufacturer’s plans will go some way to assuaging the CGT’s more pessimistic outlook.
“Globally, the CFE-CGC considers the first train of measures…constitutes tangible proof of Renault’s willingness to put back its French bases in a competitive range of production and engineering,” said a union statement.
“Further announcements…will come without doubt underlining Renault’s stated aim of strengthening its French sites and reinforcing Carlos Ghosn’s view: ‘Renault has been since its origins, a French business, but with an international vocation.'”
Last week, the CGT said some 2,860 jobs were due to disappear at Renault, without taking into account retirements, deaths or resignations, while the 1,600 engineering posts were only possible additions to replace those who leave through natural attrition.
The CFE-CGC has previously said it is the largest union at Renault.
