Ministers Elisabeth Borne and Agnès Pannier-Runacher visited the Bridgestone plant in Béthune on September 21, 2020, which the Japanese manufacturer wants to close.

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DENIS CHARLET / AFP

The government has not said its last word on the closure of the Bridgestone plant in Béthune.

It will mandate a consulting firm to "second-assess" all the scenarios that have been studied by the Japanese manufacturer before making the decision to close its Pas-de-Calais site, announced on Monday the Minister for Agnès Pannier-Runacher Industry.

The tire recycling trail

This work, carried out by the Accenture firm, "will allow us not only to look at these scenarios, but also (...) to submit alternative scenarios around this tire technology", declared Agnès Pannier-Runacher at the end of a meeting crisis with the management of the group, local elected officials and employee representatives, refusing to "fall into fatality" and "submit to this decision".

We will conduct a second assessment of the scenarios studied by #Bridgestone in order to submit alternative scenarios to the closure of # Béthune, with a progress report with management within 2 to 3 weeks.

With @Elisabeth_Borne, we refuse to fall into fatality.

pic.twitter.com/oY8lUa5P4j

- Agnès Pannier-Runacher (@AgnesRunacher) September 21, 2020

She mentioned in particular "the issue of tire recycling, as an element that can put a load in the plant".

The ministers, elected officials and the European management of the Japanese tire giant will meet again "in two to three weeks" in a way "as physically as possible" depending on sanitary conditions, "precisely to review the different scenarios, which are scenarios alternatives to a site closure ”, continued the Minister Delegate.

Management believes shutting down the plant is "the only option"

“The government will fight back and forth to save jobs.

This site is skills that are scarce, industrial skills, skilled jobs (…) we will not lose these skills, "said Minister of Labor Elisabeth Borne.

The two ministers then went to the factory site.

The #Bridgestone site in # Béthune has human capital with industrial know-how that must be retained.



I will be vigilant about the quality of the social dialogue which should make it possible to identify alternative scenarios to closure and a solution for each employee.

pic.twitter.com/jHe9vpXQzh

- Elisabeth BORNE (@Elisabeth_Borne) September 21, 2020

"Management told us very expressly that it was ready to open up alternative scenarios," said Agnès Pannier-Runacher, questioned on a statement from Bridgestone estimating a few moments earlier that the closure was the "only option" allowing to safeguard competitiveness.

"Bridgestone has studied all possible alternative solutions, in particular that of new investments for the production of different tires in Béthune", underlined the tire manufacturer after a crisis meeting with unions, local elected officials, and the two ministers.

"The project of total cessation of activity is however the only option which would make it possible to respond to Bridgestone's structural production overcapacity and therefore to safeguard the competitiveness of its operations in Europe", according to the group.

Search for a buyer

"We have never had such considerable resources as those that we can mobilize today (...) to support an industrial site that wants to modernize", added Elisabeth Borne, assuring that the government would be "very demanding of towards the company so that it mobilizes all these exceptional tools ”.

Bridgestone assured "look for companies likely to be interested in a total or partial recovery of the site and the employees or to develop projects allowing to create new activities in the region".

The group is also committed to supporting the implementation of solutions that could be triggered by this approach, including the takeover of the site by competitors.

Bridgestone intends to offer "a support plan adapted to each employee, including early retirement measures at no cost to the community, but also measures encouraging redeployments within other Bridgestone activities in France and promoting external redeployments".

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  • Elisabeth Borne