An announcement ” brutal “. This is how the municipality of Blanquefort, in Gironde, describes the announcement made, on September 23, during an extraordinary social and economic committee (CSE) to employee representatives, of the takeover of the manufacturing plant of Magna manual gearboxes by German investment fund Mutares. Aware of the difficulties facing the factory, the 740 employees expected more “on the announcement of a PSE [plan de sauvegarde de l’emploi] and a reduction in staff than anything else »explains Gilles Beauchamp, 55, representative of the CGT. “But a resale of the company, no one saw it coming”adds the one who has worked in the production of the factory for twenty-three years.
Two factories of the American manufacturer Ford, installed on the same Girondin site, worked in close collaboration. The first, Ford Aquitaine Industries (FAI), built automatic transmissions for the American and Australian market, until its closure in 2019 and the departure of its 852 employees.
The second, Getrag Ford Transmissions (GFT), still manufactures MX65 manual gearboxes for the European market, where they equip the Ford Fiesta. After a first partial takeover of the factory in 2016, the giant Canadian equipment manufacturer Magna International took over the entirety in March 2021, before disengaging a year and a half later.
“Constructive” meetings
On Thursday, Mutares officials met with employee representatives during a new extraordinary CSE. “ The only important thing we learned is that they will come from 1er January and that a restructuring plan will be decided upon within one hundred days from the moment they are within our walls », deplores Pascal Royer, 59, member of the CGT. The Mutares delegation also met the mayor of Blanquefort, Véronique Ferreira, who was also concerned. “ Concerns, we inevitably have them, because we are always afraid that history will repeat itself, like when Ford sold to a holding company a few years ago., she recalls. “We have no suspicion a priori, they seem to want to work with local authorities, and that’s good”, says the mayor. “We could only progress”, she quips, as the relationship between Magna and the municipality has been non-existent. ” Afterspecifies the aedile, we are vigilant for the industrial plan. » Bordeaux Métropole also expressed its concern about the future of the Gironde factory.
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