A pause decided due to a persistent shortage of semiconductors.
Production was suspended Thursday for three days at the Renault sites in Douai and Maubeuge, and will also be suspended for the entire week of October 17, due to a persistent shortage of semiconductors, we learned Thursday from the unions. According to Force Ouvrière, the one-week total shutdown will also concern the Ruitz site (Pas-de-Calais).
The management had announced a few days ago “in extraordinary CSE” shutdowns in Douai and Maubeuge “this Thursday, Friday and Monday”, Vincent Delobel, central FO union representative for the three sites, told AFP. But she added, in a meeting on Thursday morning, that “the three sites of Douai, Maubeuge and Ruitz” would also be arrested from October 17 to 23, he added.
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“There is also a doubt” concerning the week of October 8 for the Douai site, he continued. “We are once again experiencing problems with the supply of semiconductors, despite orders at the rendezvous”, detailed the FO delegate. Contacted by AFP, Renault did not respond Thursday evening. According to the Renault site, the three sites had more than 4,200 employees in total last December, including around 2,300 in Douai, 1,530 in Maubeuge and 360 in Ruitz.
Electronic chips at the center of the issues
The CFTC’s central union representative, Yannick Charlesege, confirmed the information from FO “at least for the Maubeuge and Douai sites”without being able to comment on that of Ruitz. “A few people in the offices are working, but the production is not running”, he said. The CGT delegate in Douai, David Dubois, also confirmed the stops in Douai and Maubeuge, stressing that there would be no “no loss of wages under an agreementpassed during the Covid-19 epidemic.
But the temporary workers, according to their companies, are not housed in the same boat, he specified, also evoking a “high impact» on subcontractors. Several of the group’s factories have already had to close for a few days in recent months due to a lack of semiconductors. These electronic chips, mainly manufactured in Asia, have been lacking since the spring of 2021.