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Paris, France: French tyre giant Michelin said Thursday it would cut 1,500 jobs in France over the next three years in response to high energy and other production costs, as well as "one of the highest tax pressures in industrialised countries".
The cuts, representing around nine percent of its 17,000 employees in France, will be carried out with voluntary buyouts, with no forced layoffs, the group's human resources director for France and southern Europe, Olivier Faure-Vauris, told AFP.
"Two-thirds will be made in administrative areas and one-third in industrial operations," he said.
Michelin had already cut around 1,200 jobs in 2024 while closing two French factories, and CEO Florent Menegaux told a parliamentary commission last year that its French factories were "loss-making".
In a statement, Michelin said France had "high operating costs, mainly because of labour and energy costs, as well as one of the highest tax pressures in industrialised countries".
In the first quarter, it reported a 5.4-percent slide in revenues to 6.2 billion euros ($7.2 billion), with tyre volumes down 1.4 percent.
