Stopped since mid-March, the 4,500 employees of the Toyota plant in Valenciennes (North) will resume work from April 21. The site, Toyota’s only production unit in France, specializes in the construction of the Yaris, the model from the best-selling Japanese manufacturer in Europe.
“We have to produce and deliver 35,000 Yaris of the current generation. They were ordered by customers who expect their delivery in the coming weeks, “justified the president of Toyota Motor Facturing France (Toyota Onnaing near Valenciennes), Luciano Biondo, in a letter to employees and posted by several unions .
Some 1,500 cars are expected to leave the factory the week of recovery, usually daily production.
What about measures to protect employees in the midst of an epidemic and a period of confinement? The management promises arranged breaks and a rotation between a day team and a night team, of around 1,000 people each, who will not meet. Masks or even visors should also be provided for the approximately 70 positions where the minimum distance between two people cannot be respected.
This decision “breaks the confinement”
Production has been stopped since March 18 and almost all of the workers on short-time work. For the CGT, which “voted against this decision” at the extraordinary CSE on Friday, the recovery is a “scandal”. “It’s a stab stab in the back of all caregivers,” protests his delegate Eric Pecqueur, judging that this decision “breaks the confinement”.
“Management uses force to get us back to the factory, making us take the risk of getting sick. The virus would spread between friends but not between colleagues at work? “He quips, denouncing” the irresponsibility of shareholders, management, and the government which has given its approval.
According to Fabrice Cambier, FO delegate, “if a Covid case occurs in society, management will be responsible”. “What guarantees us that there will be no cases?” Will the hygiene measures be sufficient? Not enough? We don’t know, ”he argues. The hygiene measures for the Valenciennes site must be examined on Tuesday by the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Commission (CSSCT).
A hard hit sector
The automotive industry had called Friday for a gradual resumption of activity with the help of public authorities, a “vital emergency” in the face of the crisis in this sector. The French market suffered a 72% drop in activity in March 2020 compared to March 2019.
