The number of cars produced in the Stellantis factories will soon drop in Sochaux. If 1,200 vehicles leave each day currently, it will be more than 800 from April. Management has decided to adapt its “production program” and to eliminate its night shift, she explained on Wednesday.
“We announced Monday in CSE [comité social et économique] that we only keep two teams from April,” said a spokeswoman for the factory, confirming information from France Blue Belfort-Montbeliard. “We had a presentiment of this fall, we had been talking about it for several CSEs”, agreed Laurent Oechsel, of the CFE-CGC.
The night shift had been set up in March 2017, shortly after the launch of the Peugeot 3008, which was already a great success. A weekend team had even been set up, abolished in 2020 due to the Covid-19 epidemic. If its return had been considered, it was never reinstated afterwards, in particular because of the second confinement in November 2020. The night team had meanwhile been suspended for three months in the fall of 2021, this time due to shortage of semiconductors.
Reclassified employees
In total, 750 people are affected by this stoppage of the night shift. Site employees will “switch” to the two day shifts. The temporary workers “will go to the end of their contract”, indicates the spokesperson. “We are going to keep a steering wheel of temporary workers,” she added. Éric Peultier, of the Force Ouvrière union, is concerned, in addition to the fate reserved for temporary workers, of the consequences “for subcontractors”. “A job lost at PSA means three jobs lost among subcontractors,” adds Jérôme Boussard, of the CGT.
However, “with the projects arriving in Sochaux, we will need additional staff”, already projects the spokesperson for the factory. The launch of a new Peugeot 3008 is thus expected in a few months.