Renault is still to decide whether or not to grant a union request at the Fonderie du Poitou Aluminium (FPA) to increase cylinder head production to up to 1m units per year.
The FPA is currently on partial shut-down as it seeks both extra work and a buyer, following a prolonged industrial dispute last year that saw owners Montupet ask for what the CFE-CGC union claimed was a swingeing 25% pay cut.
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The dispute has attracted the attention of a plethora of senior French politicians as a result of the wage cut proposal, with President Nicolas Sarkozy, Industry Minister Eric Besson, former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and unsuccessful Presidential candidate Segolene Royal, all taking a close interest.
Renault has agreed to raise its order level at the foundry to 600,000 annual units, but has yet to announce if it will accede to the CFE-CGC request for up to 1m cylinder heads.
The union also claims the French automaker has provided an EUR800,000 (US$1.04m) advance and finance for a EUR1.2m plant machine, although Renault declined to confirm those details.
“For the moment, we have not had a very precise reply from Renault about [the] cylinder heads,” CFE-CGC main union official Alex Jamain told just-auto from France.
“But we have had a response about financial aid and they will advance EUR800,000 and will pay [for] the machine which is waiting at the manufacturer – there is EUR1.2m that Renault will pay for this machine.
“They will continue to help us financially in the months to come and will help us to find a buyer.”
Jamain said five potential companies had expressed an interest in FPA, including GND that has 47 factories around Europe and the Saint Jean foundry near Lyon with 1,200 employees.
The CFE-CGC official is travelling to Paris tomorrow (25 January) to attend a hearing at the Tribunal de Commerce de Nanterre in the French capital’s business district of La Defense, which will decide if the foundry can continue in its receivership status.
“There is hope for production to restart [at] the factory,” said Jamain. “I am rather confident, it has to be four years guarantee of work.”
The FPA foundry in France’s Poitou-Charentes region is closed this week, with Jamain noting it would likely remain shuttered for one week per month as new work and a new buyer are sought.
FPA employs around 460 staff, with enough work coming in to pay employees for three weeks, while the fourth week is subsidised 60% by the French state. The business puts in half of the remaining difference.
The foundry’s plight continues to attract top politicians, with Jamain citing the visit last Monday (16 January) of Industry Minister Eric Besson to the factory.
A spokeswoman for Renault in Paris told just-auto it had agreed an order schedule of 600,000 cylinder heads with the FPA, but was unable to confirm union claims of financial aid.
“Negotiations are still going on,” she said.
