The new president of France Francois Hollande said that Peugeot must renegotiate its plan to cut 8,000 jobs. Hollande said the cutback would create a huge social impact. He accused the automaker of lying about its intentions and said it was making strategic errors. Hollande, in an interview on television, said the government’s plan to rescue the ailing car industry was to be announced July 25 and would include a number of public incentives that would encourage consumers into purchasing environmentally friendly French-made cars.
However, he said there would be no scrappage subsidies that had been introduced during the financial crisis of 2009 by Nicolas Sarkozy the former president, which Hollande said cost each taxpayer and often were used to by foreign made cars.
Hollande did admit he had no way of stopping Peugeot from halting production at its assembly plant outside Paris in 2014. Hollande said he is aware that the carmaker has economic reasons for the job cuts.
Last week the carmaker said its manufacturing sector was losing $244 million per month. Hollande said however, the company’s plan in its current state was unacceptable. He said it must be renegotiated adding he wanted to be sure that voluntary redundancy packages or other jobs were found for all of the affected workers.
Peugeot said it would find 1,500 jobs for workers who are involved within the company with another 3,600 workers being offered voluntary redundancy through 2013. The announcement was shocking from the second-largest automaker in Europe and reminded people of the failure of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin’s to halt the closure of Renault’s closing of its plant in Belgium after taking power in 1997.
