Michelin Managers Released After Three-Day Protest

Workers at Michelin’s manufacturing facility in Toul have released the two plant managers that had remained locked in a room for three days to protest the French factory’s impending closure. The pair were released on February 17, and talks between employee representatives and the company have apparently now resumed.

The ‘lock-in’ began the previous Thursday when talks between management and staff broke down, and two days later France’s Economy Minister Christine Lagarde was appointed to act as a mediator between the two parties. When the managers were finally freed and escorted from the factory, it is said that workers turned their backs on the two men. “We turned our backs on the management because it has been turning its back on us for at least four years,” commented one unnamed worker to Reuters.

Talks between Ms Lagarde and union representative Pierre Kovalski yielded some fruit, with the company agreeing to give workers an extra payout of between two and three thousand euros per year worked. Talks are expected to continue, although they will not involve options to keep the plant open.

“It (the closure) is unavoidable,” Michelin managing partner Michel Rollier said to France’s La Tribune newspaper. “We are offering each employee two jobs in one of our group’s 16 factories in France. For those who do not want to or cannot move, we are offering personalised help until they find a job. Until then, they will remain Michelin staff. The period will last up to twelve months.” Rollier added that Michelin will not close any further factories in France, and in the coming years will create between 800 and 1,000 new jobs there.