It was under the auspices of the boss – Luca de Meo, CEO of the Renault group – that three of the four trade unions representing Losange signed, Tuesday, December 14, a new three-year social agreement 2022-2024 for France, promising to French manufacturer’s tricolor factories an industrial future with hiring. In exchange, the text provides for a reorganization of work and further job cuts in tertiary activities and engineering. Called “Re-new France 2025”, the text was signed by CFE-CGC, CFDT and FO, three unions representing 76% of the 30,000 Renault employees in France (out of 170,000 worldwide).
The moment is not lacking in solemnity. This is the first major social agreement signed by the new management since the fall of Carlos Ghosn in 2018, which had left its mark on the two previous texts initialed in 2013 and 2017. This outcome, after thirteen weeks of negotiations , is a success for Mr. de Meo and his human resources department. The boss convinced three quarters of his social partners, including the CFE-CGC, the company’s leading union, whose natural electorate – engineers, service teams, support functions – were not however spared by management since 2020. Only the CGT refused to endorse the agreement.
Precisely, what does this text contain? First, the promise to produce 700,000 vehicles per year by 2025, which constitutes, according to Renault, an increase of 38% compared to the 2020 level and of 12% if we compare with the average of the last twelve years. Nine vehicles will be assigned to French factories, mainly electric cars at the ElectriCity hub in northern France (Douai, Maubeuge) and utility vehicles which are also often electrified. The Cléon plant (Seine-Maritime) will be the production center for the new 100 kilowatt-hour electric motor.
Productivity measures
To support this ramp-up, 2,500 people will be recruited, including 2,000 in production and 500 in engineering, giving priority to rare profiles in the group: data, software and battery chemistry specialists. . A massive training plan of 10,000 people will be implemented. “The agreement places France at the heart of Renault’s activities”, summed up Maximilien Fleury, director of human resources for France.
The agreement provides, in return, for productivity measures: extension of four hours of annual working time to reach thirty-five hours per week, flexibility in the event of a decrease or an increase in the volumes to be produced, six compulsory Saturdays worked per year , twenty-minute unpaid breaks for new hires and temporary workers. Above all, 1,700 jobs will be cut within two years in engineering (1,300) and support functions (400), in addition to the haemorrhaging of the spring 2020 restructuring plan. The latter provided for the disappearance of 4,600 jobs in France, including 2,500 for Renault employees in the tertiary sector.
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