Economic success and social peace do not go hand in hand. Soitec, one of the French semiconductor champions, has experienced this. The company from the Grenoble region has just revealed exceptional results. On June 8, the company announced annual revenue exceeding one billion dollars for the first time (863 million euros, up 50% at constant exchange rates compared to 2020-2021). This does not prevent him from being plunged into turmoil.
Since June 10, a strike movement, described as ” spontaneous “ by the CGT union, is disrupting its activities on this site, which has approximately 1,500 employees. It was initiated by teams working at weekends and at night. According to Fabrice Lallement, delegate of the CGT Soitec, around 330 employees have stopped working, almost completely stopping the production lines.
Friday, June 17, by a narrow majority (52%), an agreement was reached to end the crisis. Management agreed to an increase in profit-sharing (+20%) and in the number of free shares allocated to employees. A gesture was also made to reduce the cost of mobilization for the strikers. Finally, exchange cells will be set up regularly to improve social dialogue.
Break with the executives
To read the press releases of the union, a rupture took place between the executives of the company, about sixty people, and the employees. To the point of denouncing the “force-feeding” leaders. According to Soitec’s annual report, Paul Boudre, the company’s managing director, received nearly 2.5 million euros over the last financial year 2020-2021, between his fixed salary (550,000 euros), the shares that he receives each year (equivalent to 1.2 million euros in 2021), and his performance bonuses. The previous year, his emoluments approached 4 million euros.
This strike hits another topical issue in the company, its governance crisis which has seen its managing director, Paul Boudre, see the renewal of his mandate refused by the board of directors in favor of Pierre Barnabé, former boss of the Big Division. Data and Security of the Atos IT group, which is due to replace him in July.
“There is a gap between those who take control and those who are in the field”, Fabrice Lallement, CGT delegate
The dialogue between management and the unions has been frozen for many months and has already been marked by walkouts by employees a year ago. “At the time the management minimized the anger”, laments Mr. Lallement. If the first claim of the CGT relates above all to the question of remuneration, it ensures that it is also a question of taking into account the working conditions on a site which runs 24 hours a day.
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