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The Stellantis factory in Sochaux is preparing to cease all activity for 10 days, from April 5 to 14, due to supply problems on certain parts. Employees will find themselves on partial unemployment and lose part of their salary.
Move around, there will be nothing or almost nothing to see for 10 days on the Stellantis de Sochaux site. Management confirmed it at the end of last week, the plant will cease production from April 5 to 14 due to a major shortage of parts, including automatic transmissions. No vehicles will therefore be manufactured during this period. A huge halt when in normal times, the Sochaux factory produces an average of 1,000 cars per day, Peugeot 3008 and 5008.
“Management does not give us a lot of information but this time, it is not the same scenario as the previous times” underlines Benoît Vernier, CFDT union representative at Stellantis Sochaux, “Production generally stopped for a few days after a specific problem and then we left. There, the problem seems more serious. The management must communicate”.
However, this is not a first. Since the Covid-19 crisis, the Stellantis site in Sochaux has ceased production many times already, often impacted by the global shortage of semiconductors. The last time was last June: the factory had closed its doors for 10 days, impacting more than 3,000 employees. “We know that it is still linked to a supply problem on automatic gearboxes” recalls Benoît Vernier, “The problem is national, it is not specific to Sochaux. Moreover, after us, the sites of Rennes and Eisenach in Germany will also temporarily stop production for a week,” said the trade unionist.
The shoeing workshop of the Sochaux factory of the car manufacturer Stellantis • © LIONEL VADAM / MAXPPP
For employees, the successive cancellation of the various working sessions is not good news. Most will lose days of salary and this time, a symbolic milestone is likely to be crossed, that of 12 days not worked. Indeed, below this threshold, employees have an agreement with management which until then allowed them to receive 100% of their salary. But beyond these 12 days, the partial activity regime applies. Employees only receive 84% of their salary. For temporary workers, the first two days of partial unemployment are not paid.
“We are still in a company that is doing well with more than 17 billion euros in profit this year. And it’s always the same – that is to say the employees who have to pay” regrets Franck Plain, union representative CGT at Stellantis Sochaux “In fact, it is the management that decides our work schedule and we, the employees, must apply. This time, there will be significant loss of wages, 16% per day and more if production does not resume immediately. This is not negligible in view of the current situation and inflation,” insists the CGT representative.
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Production line in the Peugeot 308, 3008 and 5008 manufacturing workshops. • © LIONEL VADAM / MAXPPP
As Franck Plain rightly points out, despite these recurring supply problems which affect the entire automotive sector, the Stellantis group remains on a record year 2022 with a net profit posted at 16.8 billion euros. Superprofits which nevertheless allowed the company to grant a significant profit-sharing and participation bonus to its employees: 4,300 euros this year.
In addition, a general wage increase of 4.4% was decided for workers last December and voted by three unions out of five. Xavier Chéreau, director of human resources for the group, also announced on Monday April 3 that Stellantis planned to recruit 1,200 additional employees in 2023, without specifying the sites concerned.