Beauvais. AGCO employees expect more from negotiations and make it known

A new day of actions was organized by employees and the inter-union in front AGCO this Thursday, December 12. Installed on the small roundabout at the foot of the Blaise-Pascal Avenue bridge since 6 a.m. this morning, employees and unions slow down traffic and distribute leaflets to alert the population about their situation. While 103 positions in the design office, which brings together engineers, industrial designers and others, are threatened with dismissal.

At the beginning of the afternoon, when a new negotiation meeting was to take place, they were joined by the ex-strikers from Gima and elected officials. Including MP François Ruffin. “The objective is to filter traffic until the end of the afternoon», indicated the employees a little before 2 p.m.

Tense negotiations

The negotiation meeting which was to be held at 1:30 p.m. was postponed to 2 p.m. this Thursday. The employees interviewed report tensions, and the threat of a unilateral decision by management, as was the case for Gima. While everything seemed to be going normally, a first interruption of negotiations took place during the week. Several sources report that employees have asked the unions to go further than what had been agreed so far.

New demands that management has not accepted. In a note of intentions, Thierry Lhotte, president of AGCO France, and Eric Odièvre, HR director, rely on the fact that DREETS has validated Gima’s dismissal plan so as not to go back on past proposals. They argue, in fact, that management could decide on its own the measures applied for this AGCO dismissal plan.

“They did not believe the unions when they said that these demands were only from a few people», says an employee. So they mobilized in numbers to accompany their union representatives to the door of the negotiating room this Thursday. “They (management) didn’t like us coming. They have never experienced this in the company, especially in the design office», Comment the employees on their return. For its part, management believes that “discussions are continuing with central union delegates. These are normal moments in the difficult context of negotiating a PSE within a company.»

“These are professions that I have never seen outsourced”

Alongside the negotiations specific to the conditions of dismissals, AGCO employees were able to express their more general fears with MP François Ruffin. He showed concern and called on the State to be more protective in the face of Asian and American competition. “When we manage to outsource design, like here in India, the factories follow behind“, he warns. He also emphasizes the good financial health of the multinational which significantly increased the dividends of its shareholders before dismissing its employees for economic reasons.

For him, responsibility also falls to the State while DREETS validated the Gima layoff plan. “I want a government that chooses public power. That when dividends increase, people say no. These are professions that I have never seen outsourced. It’s a new wave.» Employees of the design office also warn of the repercussions for the French agricultural sector. “We are on agricultural machinerysummarizes Anthony Auger, one of the employees. While we are going to have to evolve our agricultural model, we are depriving ourselves of skills. This is a lack of overall vision across the country.»