With these high temperatures, the unions would like more breaks for Stellantis employees, but also more air-conditioned places. They describe difficult days for employees in the production workshops.
In the production workshops, the working conditions during the hot weather are particularly trying. “I found 29 degrees in a body shop, 25 degrees during assembly, and it was only eight o’clock in the morning,” says Eric Peultier, FO union representative.
In addition to the high temperature, there are also specific protective clothing. “In the forged workshops, for example, you have to wear trousers, a jacket, gloves… it’s actually very complicated. The heat makes you tired, you work at a rate of one car per minute, it gives you a idea of the pace,” says the trade unionist.
A major heat wave has set in in France. This Tuesday, July 19, 73 departments, including those of Franche-Comté, are placed on heat wave orange vigilance by Météo France.
In this context, the unions are asking for additional breaks for all teams, those in the morning, afternoon and evening. This is what they call “heat stops”, which allow you to cool down.
The afternoon shift, for example, benefits from it during very hot weather, explains the trade unionist. Thus, for a shift that begins at 12:55 p.m. and ends at 8:45 p.m., employees usually have three breaks (two of ten minutes, one of twenty minutes for the meal break). With “the heat stop”, they have an additional ten-minute break.
This is confirmed by the communication spokesperson for the Sochaux site: “It depends on the temperature, so there it is necessary. The protocol is quite complicated, but from 31 degrees if the hydrometric rate is greater than or equal to 55%, the heat break is triggered,” she says.
But this text is widely questioned by the union. “It’s a Peugeot protocol which dates from 1976 and which is still in progress, taken over as it was in 2003 when the PSA group was created, except that since then nothing has changed”, retorts Eric Peultier of FO. “The production rates were not the same, today it no longer suits us. We want to develop this system. We want to get back around the table to renegotiate texts so that they take into account temperatures and current working conditions. We need to make it evolve both here and on all the sites, except that for us the management of Sochaux is blocking”
In Sochaux, the management has set up a water supply for all staff. “On that side, it’s good,” says Eric Peultier. However, he would like more cool places. “For example in the new workshops, the air conditioning is installed but not yet in operation”. New workshops in service at the start of 2022.
The extension of working hours also raises questions. “For production, we have extended hours that are planned to compensate for breakdowns or to meet commercial demand. We said: when it’s hot, we don’t want these extended hours.”