AkzoNobel announced on Friday January 10, 2025 its intention to eliminate up to 211 positions in France, or approximately 16% of its workforce in the country, as part of a reorganization plan.
The Montataire site should be the main impacted this year.
This decision by the group is presented as following a slowdown after the COVID-19 pandemic, rising raw material costs and destocking by its customers.
The Dutch paints and coatings group previously announced the closure of factories in Ireland, the Netherlands and Zambia, as well as plans to cut around 2,000 jobs globally by the end of 2025.
Akzo Nobel’s reorganization plan in France will begin in May 2025 and continue until the end of 2026, with the creation of new positions in the country. On the Montataire site, up to 89 job cuts are mentioned and at the same time the creation of 23 positions in the Akzo Nobel Decorative Paints France entity. This should also concern the Creillois Basin site.
The group will invest 22 million euros on its Montataire site in the north of France, in order to make it a “flagship in the production of decorative paints”.
The job cuts should enable Akzo Nobel to save between 120 and 150 million euros per year.
Warned in advance, the mayor of Montataire, Jean-Pierre Bosino, also a former trade unionist at Chausson, said he met management on this subject a few days ago. “Investments don’t solve everything. This does not bode well for the site,” notes the elected Pcf.
The Montataire site, the brand’s main factory, could therefore be the most affected by job cuts, despite the significant investments planned.
And this is where the problem lies since paradoxically, the Montataire site is the one where the group invests the most to remain competitive.
“But behind the superlatives, competitiveness, profit, performance, growth, balance, there are families, a local economy, a territory which are once again impacted by a large-scale layoff plan,” say the unionists, who are planning quick actions.
For employees and trade unionists, this brings back bad memories. The last plan dates back to 2013 and at the time mobilized unions and employees. At the time, this had not changed the situation much. “Based on this experience, we will have to mobilize to make the voice of employees heard once and for all,” assure several staff representatives.
