Gathering of Latécoère employees denouncing a plan to cut staff in particular affecting the LatElec subsidiary, on December 8, 2020 in Toulouse (AFP/Archives/Fred SCHEIBER)
Latécoère plans to relocate to the Czech Republic and Mexico the activities of one of its Toulouse sites employing a hundred people, the French aeronautical equipment manufacturer said on Friday, arousing the “surprise” of the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure.
Latécoère plans to transfer the activities and machines of its Toulouse-Montredon plant, which manufactures parts used to assemble the doors of the Boeing 787, to the group’s low-cost sites, and to offer the approximately 110 employees who work there are working on a reclassification allowing them to stay with the company, according to a spokesperson for the company.
In particular, he pointed to the sharp drop in the number of 787s manufactured by Boeing since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020, which made it impossible to “profit” from the activities of this site.
Latécoère has opened an information-consultation procedure with the unions, he told AFP.
“I need someone to explain to me exactly what is happening because, at this stage, I am a little surprised”, declared Friday on Sud Radio Roland Lescure, specifying that he had no “not warned before”.
“I hear that there are plans (for relocation), I would like someone to explain to me”, he said again, adding: “We can, perhaps, find other plans “.
Acquired in 2019 by the American fund Searlight Capital Partners, Latécoère saw its activity shrink by almost half during the health crisis. The turnover of the equipment manufacturer specializing in aerostructures (doors and fuselage parts) and electrical wiring stood at 376 million euros in 2021.
The group has since sought to reach “critical size” and exceed 800 million euros in turnover by 2027. It is a question of being able to react to the rebound of the global aeronautics industry. The production rate forecasts of Boeing and especially of Airbus, its main customer, are rising sharply to meet the expected growth in air traffic and the need for renewal of aircraft fleets by airlines.
For this, it has multiplied acquisitions, in particular of the Canadian specialist in aircraft structures Avcorp Industries, the Spanish defense group Mades or that of the Mexican company Hermosillo, a subsidiary of another French equipment manufacturer, Figeac Aéro.
Latécoère employed 4,764 people worldwide at the end of 2021, including 1,385 in France where, at the start of 2021, it had announced the elimination of 246 positions as part of a social plan.
© 2023 AFP
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