Another factory to close?

[woolybanana]

The government is scrambling to find a buyer for the Goodyear tyre factory (Nord) at Amiens after the company announced that it will be closing with the loss of 1200 jobs. This after five years of negotiations and attempts to find a buyer. No doubt there will be some sort of bribe paid to get someone to take it over.

What is interesting however and which is not being stated in the press is that there are two Goodyear tyre factories right opposite each other; several years ago they were both offered the same deal to make them more competitive - the one which accepted (Sud) seems to be going from strength to strength though the work conditions have toughened. The one which refused to change its working conditions is now going under apparently.

Which tells us something.

[idun]

You are right, I have not noticed this being mentioned on french news, at all. I have only seen reports about the factory being closed.

[Chancer]

Spot on Wooly, I know the site well and employees from both the factories, those who arent frightened of actually earning their pay are all at the new factory and doing very well, the new factory employs almost as many people as the old one did at its peak and thats after the automation and new working practices, the demand is there and there are people happy to make their living fullfilling it. Meanwhile the syndicalistes burn tyres and pallets regularly outside the old one.

It shocks me how long the French system can drag out the agony of a factory closure, dont forget this is not even a closure but a huge investment in a new modern efficient production facility but they are forced to run the old one in parallel for 10 years.

Close by there is a distribution base for Lee Cooper that has not seen a pair of jeans in the 8 years that I live here, the retail world has changed as we all know, yet it still forced to hang on, the last I heard the staff had won a battle frocing Lee Cooper to look for a repreneur someone wanting to take on a distribution centre for jeans without a customer and a bolshy workforce, the car park is empty these days but all the lights are still on 24/7 in the building.

The aircraft factory opposite me is in my view taking the steps to close down the site and move productioon overseas which is a political hot potato, they are going through exactly the same moves that I have seen many times with large companies in the UK, even the syntax is the same, the difference being what took 18 months in the UK, downsizing, restructuring becoming an internal customer, having to bid competitively for their own work before finally regrettable having to close (which was planned all along of course) takes over 10 years here in France.

[Théière]

From what I can see, France is freekishly expensive to setup and run a business from. Do they really have the word entrenapeur in the dictionary? If so what is the French meaning to this word.  There are obviously successful French companies but looking through the different types of setup that I would work under I just see failure looming as the tax/cotisations would cripple the business within the second year. Big companies would want a ROI with a margin of profitability so far I can only see one way to achieve this.  

[Rabbie]

Couldn't find the word "entrenapeur". in any dictionary. Did you mean entrepreneur?

[DerekJ]

[quote user="Théière"] Do they really have the word entrenapeur in the dictionary? If so what is the French meaning to this word.   [/quote]

This is a wind up? Yes?

[woolybanana]

Not at all. It is someone who starts businesses making saucepans.

[Rabbie]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Not at all. It is someone who starts businesses making saucepans.[/quote]

Isn't that an entrepaneur?[:D]

[SC]

Entrenapeurs sleep on the job.

Steve