PSA Peugeot Citroen is facing the stark possibility of imminent industrial action concerning plans to shut its Aulnay plant near Paris with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs.
France’s largest union – the Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) – has returned from the beach determined to stamp its authority on a situation it judges “unacceptable” following PSA’s decision to shutter Aulnay and make a total of up to 8,000 staff redundant.
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“I am convinced there will be action, there will have to be action,” CGT union official, Jean-Pierre Mercier told just-auto from France. “I can’t put myself in the line of 3,000 workers, but a general assembly will decide it.”
The CGT said that general assembly would meet on 11 September to decide on any move, but that any industrial action would likely take some time, given the fact most employees have only just returned from holiday.
“It is very hard to organise a strike [so soon], it is true,” said Mercier. “We have not seen each other, a strike can’t happen just like that.”
The CGT has not scheduled any meetings with PSA management to discuss its plans, but the labour body is stressing it would “fight right to the end.”
On the same day as the CGT’s general assembly, the French government’s special envoy, Emannuel Sartorius, is due to deliver his report on PSA’s restructuring plans, although what teeth, if any, this will have is as yet unclear.
Any strike at Aulnay will be the first major test of France’s newly-elected President, Francois Hollande and his government, which has so far expressed sympathy with the PSA workers’ plight.
Hollande recently voiced his “shock” at PSA’s plans, noting they were unacceptable in their current form.
PSA was not immediately available for comment.
