Trade union warns of Michelin job transfers to Romania, Poland

Clermont-Ferrand, France – French union CGT Michelin has expressed concern over the future of ‘white-collar jobs’ in France due to an accelerated wave of relocations from Clermont-Ferrand to lower-cost sites in Romania and Poland.

The warning followed a 25 June meeting of Michelin's social and cconomic committee (CSE) where, according to the union, new job cuts and reorganisations were presented.

According to the CGT, two new projects were introduced at the meeting, leading to the transfer of 50 jobs out of Clermont-Ferrand.

Under the “order to cash” reorganisation plan, 10 positions in business support TaaS France are to move to Bucharest, Romania.

This follows an earlier wave of transfers of similar roles to Bucharest, said CGT, noting Michelin’s earlier commitment to retaining expert staff locally.

In addition, customer contact centre (CCC OE) is slated to transfer 39 positions to Warsaw, Poland.

The union says this mirrors an earlier move of the CCC from Karlsruhe, Germany to Poland.

In both cases, the stated aim is to reduce overhead costs, with management estimating potential savings of up to 40% in Romania and 30% in Poland, said CGT.

The union also highlighted plans to reorganise two central service divisions currently based entirely in Clermont-Ferrand: Manufacture Operations Europe (MOEU) and Manufacture Operations Materials (MOMAT).

According to the union, the MOEU unit employs around 240 people and could see 24 positions cut under a goal to reduce SG&A expenses by 10%.

The MOMAT division, with 80 employees, faces a planned reduction of around 12 full-time equivalents over three years to achieve a 5% SG&A reduction.

Separately, the union pointed to the “project purple” plan affecting European Treasury operations at Michelin’s Carmes site. This project, it said, is set to eliminate 19 positions by the end of 2025.