Besancon (AFP)

The management of General Electric (GE) Friday submitted to employees two new options to its social plan, providing for reducing by 111 or 307 the number of job cuts planned in Belfort, in an email of which the AFP has received a copy.

In this e-mail addressed to employees, Patrick Mafféïs, vice president of industrial operations at GE Power Europe, said that the first option is to "save 111 jobs" out of the 792 that were to be initially cut in Belfort.

The staff of the gas turbine manufacturing company would be reduced to 1,079 employees by the end of 2020. The management said it had "also improved the financial and social modalities of the accompanying measures".

The second option would reduce by 307 the number of jobs eliminated but in return for a "cost reduction plan and site performance improvement representing savings of 12 million euros per year". The total workforce of the entity would thus be reduced to 1,275 employees by the end of 2020.

General Electric, which employs some 4,300 employees in Belfort, including 1,800 in the gas turbine business, initially announced last May a social plan for the removal of nearly 1,050 jobs in France, including 792 in Belfort.

The second solution is the result of "intense discussions" between the government, GE and the inter-union, conducted "for several weeks," said Mr. Mafféïs.

Advocating for this solution, he argues that "the gas business, but also the diversification effort towards aeronautics and other mechanical activities, should benefit from it".

It will be subject to employee approval Monday in Belfort, according to the Inter.

If they rejected it, management warned that it would submit the first option on October 21 to the Regional Directorate for Business, Competition, Consumer Affairs, Labor and Employment (Direccte).

In his email, Patrick Mafféïs "calls" also to employees "to lift as soon as possible the blockages sites Belfort and Bourogne" (Territoire-de-Belfort), stopped for ten days.

A demonstration of support for GE employees is scheduled for Saturday in Belfort in the presence of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of insubordinate France.

© 2019 AFP