" There are some who take advantage of the Covid to make unacceptable social plans ", denounced Laurent Berger at the microphone of BFM Business, this Tuesday morning. In the viewfinder of the secretary general of the CFDT: Nokia, among others.
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The telecoms equipment manufacturer recently announced the elimination of a third of its workforce in France, or 1,233 jobs in its Alcatel-Lucent sector. Research and development (R&D) positions dedicated to 5G technology are particularly targeted. The Breton center of Nokia, in Lannion, could be threatened.
" Jobs must be preserved because the telecoms sector is one of the sectors that did not suffer during this period," added the boss of the CGT, Philippe Martinez this Tuesday morning, at the microphone of France Inter. So the state must say that there is no question of cutting jobs. Nokia receives public aid with the research tax credit with the CICE. The state must intervene ”.
Monday, the Ministry of Economy also reacted and indicated that Nokia should " improve very significantly " its plan. According to AFP, the government will work with employees of Alcatel-Lucent to make counter-proposals to Nokia and demonstrate that France is attractive. The unions must be received this Tuesday in Bercy.
Difficult months ahead
Unions and employers also meet with the President of the Republic on Wednesday afternoon. The case of Nokia should be on the menu of this consultation.
The future scheme which will replace short-time working should also be presented at this meeting. On the union side, Philippe Martinez is pleased that the State remains at the bedside of companies and employees. " Maintaining partial unemployment is a good choice because there are employees who cannot return to work," he emphasizes. Even if the pandemic seems to be going away - and even that the scientific council has launched an alert for this winter - we must continue to protect employees who are said to be vulnerable. And so, for that, partial unemployment is a solution ”.
For the secretary general of the CFDT Laurent Berger, the aid that the State pays to companies must also be accompanied by guarantees in terms of employment, but also of "social dialogue". "We will have to distinguish very clearly the companies which today use, somewhat as a windfall effect, the covid to cut staff, he said , from those who really suffer because the activity has declined . We are talking about aeronautics, for example, ADP and others, but also those which, structurally, are already in difficulty. This is the case with trade, for example, or with textiles ”.
Read also: Partial activity: Laurent Berger (CFDT) wants "commitments" to maintain employment
However, Laurent Berger says he is against the “ slogan of the ban on dismissals. The economic reality was not that ”.
The social partners also hope that the subject of youth employment will be raised tomorrow with the President of the Republic. At the moment, nothing has been revealed about the extent of the measures that should be announced during this exchange.