Michelin cuts over 1500 jobs and closes sites
The French tire manufacturer Michelin is responding to rising production costs and competition from low-wage countries with far-reaching job cuts. The company will gradually discontinue production at the Karlsruhe and Trier sites as well as the new truck tire and semi-finished product production in Homburg, Saarland, by the end of 2025. This was announced by Michelin in Frankfurt. This will affect a total of 1410 employees in Germany. Michelin is also relocating its customer center from Karlsruhe to Poland. This will affect a further 122 employees.
Michelin cited the import of low-cost truck tires from low-wage countries and rising production costs as the reason for the job cuts, which put the company under pressure, caused it to lose market share and reduced its competitiveness. Michelin's largest European production site for retreading truck tires in Homburg and the car tire plant in Bad Kreuznach are not affected, the company emphasized. Production at these sites will continue.
"The commitment of our employees, the progress made within the company and the investments made in recent years in the affected activities can no longer compensate for the strong competitive pressure," said Maria Röttger, President of Michelin's Northern Europe region. The company wants to support the affected employees in finding new career paths, she said. Talks are underway with the works councils and the IG BCE trade union on this and on alternatives for the future use of the affected sites.
IG BCE does not want to "simply accept" the job cuts and plant closures. These are wrong. "Michelin only wants to maximize profits and is letting go of highly committed and highly qualified employees to do so," said the union's group representative, Matthias Hille. "We are not giving up on the sites and will continue to work on alternative concepts."
Just recently, the US company Goodyear announced that it would cease tire production in Fürstenwalde and close its plant in Fulda. This would affect around 1800 jobs.
In an effort to combat rising production costs and competition from low-wage countries, Michelin decided to abandon car tire production at its Karlsruhe and Trier sites, as well as semi-finished product production in Homburg, Saarland by 2025. This necessitates the replacement of over 1500 tires industry-related jobs.
To minimize the impact on its workers, Michelin is planning to help affected employees explore new career opportunities and is engaging in discussions with the works councils and IG BCE trade union regarding potential alternatives for the future utilization of the affected sites.
Source: www.dpa.com
