Posted on Jul 20, 2020 at 7:30 a.m.
The 15,500 employees of Valeo in France will not go on vacation with peace of mind. A fortnight ago, the management of the equipment supplier launched a negotiation, presented to the unions as “without taboo”, to deal with the acute crisis suffered by the automotive market. Objective: reduce the payroll by 10%, or 100 million euros.
The company does not wish to comment on the discussions in progress. It is content to indicate that “it is a question of seeking, through dialogue, economies wherever possible, in order to limit and prevent the consequences of the crisis on employment”.
Over fifteen measurements on the table
Unions are more vocal. They report that the company has put on the table a little more than fifteen proposals. Among these, the cancellation of the profit-sharing, the freezing of the wages, the reduction of the premiums of retirement or night work, a passage from 215 to 218 days of the working time of the engineers and executives, and even a 5% drop in their basic pay.
Management presented Friday at a new meeting an estimate of the savings that each measure would generate. She wants to convince the unions to formalize some of them by the end of September in a collective performance agreement, this provision resulting from the Macron ordinances of 2017 which needs to be signed by organizations representing the majority of employees. Failing to do so, “we will take our responsibilities,” the management announced to the unions, leaving the prospect of job cuts hanging over them.
“The pandemic, a pretext”
For their part, the staff representatives have gone up a lot. Some, like the CGT, dispute the diagnosis made by the employer. “Activity has returned to almost normal since the end of confinement,” said one of its representatives, Denis Bréant. The pandemic is an excuse to cut down on social gains ”.
Another point of friction, the duration of the efforts made. On Friday, the HR director said that some of the measures could be accompanied by return to better fortune clauses after two or three years. But not all of them will. “The categorical provisions and the grids can vary appreciably from one site to another, according to the local agreements which were passed there, decrypts a representative of the personnel. Management wants to standardize the provisions, but by leveling down most of the sites. “
Nothing on job retention
Last but not least, the company does not foresee any significant compensation at this stage. “The company explained to us on Friday that the uncertainties about the economic situation or a possible second wave did not allow it to commit to maintaining employment or the sustainability of French sites,” explains Pascal Phan, CFE-CGC coordinator for the group. If it remains there, we will not go very far. The population of technicians and managers is ready to make efforts by extending working hours, but other stakeholders, such as shareholders, must also contribute. “
Bertrand Bellanger, his counterpart for FO, abounds: “We understand the economic situation, but the compensation must be significant. Until that is the case, we will not enter into negotiations. The next negotiation session is scheduled for Wednesday. Management will probably use the group’s half-yearly results, disclosed the day before, and which promise to be bad, to reinforce its desire to reduce costs.