Renault has secured more than 60% workforce approval today (13 March) for its radical restructuring plan that will see increased volume and no factory closures in exchange for swingeing redundancies, although the powerful CGT union’s signature is glaringly absent.
The French automaker has been conducting a lengthy series of talks for the past nine months with its major unions and despite the marked refusal of the hard-line CGT union to sign, Renault CEO, Carlos Ghosn, expressed satisfaction the vast majority of its labour bodies have put pen to paper.
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“He [Ghosn] said he is glad he has worked with the other labour unions and is pleased about the result,” a Renault spokeswoman confirmed to just-auto from Paris.
“We would have preferred to have all of them, that is a certainty. For now we are pleased to have a big majority. The agreement has been validated by a Comite Central d’Entreprise [Works Council] and has been signed this morning by union leaders and Carlos Ghosn.
“The CGT has not signed – we have the three [other] unions – CFDT, FO and CFE-CGC.”
As part of the deal Renault has committed to producing at least 710,000 vehicles in France by 2016, compared with 530,000 vehicles in 2012.
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By GlobalDataThis will take the overall utilisation rate of the facilities in France to more than 85% and will allow business to continue at the company’s French sites until 2016 and up to 2020. However, there will be 7,500 redundancies.
Renault added the level of activity would also benefit all French mechanical component plants producing parts for suspension systems, engines and transmission, as well as logistics platforms.
Through the terms of today’s agreement, Renault has also committed to maintaining activity at all its production sites in France, as well as at its engineering, sales and marketing, and tertiary services departments.
A watchdog committee will now be established to make sure the terms of the agreement are met. The purpose of the committee – which will be made up of three representatives from each of the unions that signed the agreement – along with representatives of the company’s senior management – will be to monitor the introduction of the measures specified in the agreement.
It will focus notably on four areas: utilisation rate of manufacturing capacity, the agreement’s social measures, research and innovation and the automotive industry.
The agreement will apply to all Renault automobile-based establishments, as well as to its MCA, SOVAB, STA, RST, ACI Villeurbanne, Sofrastock international and Fonderie de Bretagne manufacturing subsidiaries.
“I would like to hail the work that has been undertaken over the past several months with a view to producing such an agreement,” said Ghosn. I would also like to thank all the unions who fully assumed their role as partners.
“Thanks to their engagement, as well to our mutual determination to concert and look ahead to the future, we have been able to rise successfully to the challenge of producing an agreement which not only complied with the rules of collective bargaining, but which is also just for the workforce and which provides solid foundations for the company’s sustainable growth.”
