One of PSA Peugeot-Citroen’s major unions is describing last week’s French State injection of EUR800m (US$1.1bn) into the automaker as ‘scandalous.’
France agreed to pump in the cash – along with a similar amount from PSA partner Dongfeng – in a total deal worth EUR3bn that will see Paris and the Chinese automaker become 14% shareholders – but the move has displeased the hardline Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT).
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“I am not surprised, I am scandalised,” CGT union delegate, Jean-Pierre Mercier, told just-auto from France. “[The] government has said the coffers are empty and they are increasing taxes on the population, especially workers.
“Now they approve the means to put EUR800m into the coffers, into a 100% private [company]. “A guarantee for shareholders, but not for workers.
“The only way to protect against redundancy…is to struggle collectively. We have informed the workers we are in the middle of [a] struggle…that the State stops redundancies and says to PSA to stop redundancies.”
The CGT’s ire has been particularly irked given it was recently involved in a bitter fight to stop the closure of PSA’s Aulnay plant near Paris that formed part of the automaker’s plan to shed up to 8,000 jobs.
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By GlobalDataPSA eventually inked a deal with the CGT concerning Aulnay, but not before a drawn-out strike lasting almost four months, which the union claimed resulted in the loss of almost 40,000 vehicles.
A rump of a few hundred strikers caused chaos at the Aulnay plant, producing C3 models and forced PSA to transfer around 340 staff to its Poissy site in a bid to soak up the production loss.
Despite the CGT’s concern surrounding the provision of public funds to PSA, France’s Finance Minister, Pierre Moscovici, maintained there would be no more closures of the automaker’s plants in the country, despite it unveiling an operating loss of EUR177m for last year.
“[Automotive] is 400,000 direct jobs in France and 2m indirectly,” said Moscovici. “In fact, there is an industrial agreement that implies a duty towards France. No closures of factories – 1m vehicles produced in France.
“The idea of the State is clearly to anchor this manufacturer in France and to allow it to grow internationally.”
The CGT remains sceptical however, insisting on its theme there should be no factory closures or redundancies.
“We can not accept the government opens the valves and [gives] presents to shareholders,” said Mercier. “The State has many means to stop redundancies – this political will does not exist.
“PSA is emptying France of its factories – when you close one line of production in Mulhouse and Poissy [for example], that is the equivalent of one factory.
“We are militating against this – it is not us it is the workers.”
French government officials were not immediately avaialble for comment.
