Goodyear’s attempts to hold a Workers Council meeting this morning (7 November) to discuss the situation at its troubled Amiens Nord factory in France, are being thwarted by union action.
The hardline Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) labour body – representing around 80% of the nearly 1,200 employees at the factory – are protesting against plans to potentially shutter the Northern France plant.
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“The meeting has been interrupted because the unions, they want to have some time to see documents…regarding the project,” a Goodyear spokesman told just-auto from the company’s France headquarters.
“It is like a tactic to delay as much as possible – trying to obstruct the decision process. The CGT is the one causing the main problems – the CGT represents 85% – the huge majority.”
Pictures in France show what appear to be union members standing in front of a huge pile of burning tyres blockading access to the site in Amiens.
The pictures also show an enormous banner from the CGT reading: “If Goodyear has cash, it’s thanks to us, Goodyear must survive.”
The situation has also been lent extra spice by rumours Titan International in the US could be interested in some sort of partial takeover, although this is as-yet unclear.
“No news from Titan – we don’t know whether there is an offer or not,” said the Goodyear spokesman. “We have absolutely no information.”
The CGT was not immediately available for comment.
