French unions at tyre maker Continental said on Sunday they had won an agreement from management to give them a minimum pay-off of EUR50,000 (US$69,970) in compensation for the plant’s closure.


The award is unusually high compared to others recently granted to French workers, a Reuters report noted.


Continental announced in March it would close its site in Clairoix, northern France, as well as its plant in Hanover, Germany, in response to a global collapse in orders.


Workers at Continental, whose highly publicised protests had become a symbol of blue-collar resistance, had refused the EUR17,000 in compensation first offered.


Management on Friday offered the company’s 1,120 workers in France a pay-off starting at EUR50,000 which would reach up to EUR100,000 for those working for the company for more than 30 years.

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Employees would receive their normal salary until October and 85% of their pay until 2011 and unemployment benefit, or 75% of their salary, until 2014.

The French staff agreed to accept the offer on Saturday and unions told Reuters they expected to sign a formal agreement with Continental directors in a little more than a week.


Continental workers’ protests had included hurling eggs at directors, burning tyres in central Paris and protesting in front of the company’s headquarters in Hanover.