What future for the 863 future former employees of the Bridgestone factory?

Demonstration of Bridgestone employees in front of the Béthune plant, September 17, 2020. -

• On Thursday November 12, the Japanese company Bridgestone confirmed that it would indeed close its Béthune plant next May.

• 863 employees will be left behind, but the public authorities are mobilizing to find the best solution.

• Advantageous PSE, buyer or priority hiring in other companies, different scenarios are on the table.

Leave as dignified as possible.

This is the sentence that stood out the most from the mouths of Bridgestone employees Thursday afternoon.

Following the refusal of the Japanese tire giant to work on an alternative, the 863 employees of the Béthune plant will lose their jobs in May 2021, the date of the announced closure of the site.

In order to avoid a big social catastrophe, elected officials from all sides are already mobilizing to find solutions.

And several tracks are starting to emerge.

Bridgestone: Employees “disgusted” after the announcement of the closure of the Béthune plant https://t.co/VRD4GdPtmO via @ 20minutesLille pic.twitter.com/AvhbrguHHm

- 20 Minutes Lille (@ 20minuteslille) November 12, 2020

If many observers are surprised at the calm of Bridgestone employees since the brutal announcement of the site's closure on September 16, their attitude can also be explained by their desire not to get out of hand before negotiating the social plan with Bridgestone.

“The time has come for a fight on social measures.

We will try to get the maximum and we will obtain the maximum for the employees.

And if we want to obtain the best social measures, there are not 10,000 solutions: they must be negotiated, ”assures Me Stéphane Ducrocq, the lawyer for the inter-union.

"We do not throw out employees like Kleenex"

“Before leaving, they have to do things right and not do the minimum.

That's why the standoff continues.

They are not going to leave like that because we are France and we do not throw away employees like Kleenex, ”announces Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region, who wants to go fast.

“We don't want it to be DIY by starting negotiations that will last a century.

There are employees who need to bounce back quickly because they have drafts to pay.

They want to know what the future will hold.

Bridgestone must show that dialogue pays off well and quickly.

The ball is in their court ”.

Negotiations between unions and management should begin quickly.

And if ever the two parties do not get along, nothing is excluded.

“If it goes wrong, we'll see what we can do by going to court.

But clearly, we are not there yet, ”reassures the lawyer of the intersyndicale.

There would already be four well-defined takeover projects

With the closure of the Bridgestone factory, present for nearly 60 years in Bethune, "we have torn away part of our history", laments Olivier Gacquerre, the mayor of the city.

But if the tire manufacturer has decided to leave, there is no question of razing the factory site.

“We are going to fight to keep this site industrial,” promises Agnés Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Industry.

The public authorities have already started looking for a buyer.

Just like Bridgestone (because it is the law) which assures in a press release that it has already found "ten opportunities including four well-defined projects".

According to Xavier Bertrand, the Japanese giant is even ready to sell the site to another tire manufacturer.

“With Bridgestone, we have divided up the geographic areas and sectors of activity of the investors that we will contact,” continued the Minister of Industry.

And to convince buyers, the State will insist on the know-how and skills of employees in terms of tires.

Even if the public authorities seek to establish above all "activities of the future".

The arrival in 2023 in Douvrin, located twenty minutes from Béthune, of an electric battery factory is already giving ideas of the area in which the Bridgestone site could be requalified.

But if there is a buyer, it is very unlikely that he will keep all of the 863 employees.

Hiring aid for ex-Bridgestone

If the site is not taken over or if the buyer separates from some of the employees, aid could be paid to each company ready to hire ex-Bridgestone.

A request that elected officials made to the Japanese group.

"Any employee who will be recruited elsewhere will benefit from financial support of several thousand euros supported by Bridgestone", assures Xavier Bertrand.

Before once again eyeing the future Douvrin electric battery factory which will hire 2,400 people within two years.

Basically, part of the recruitments were reserved for people coming out of training or re-qualification.

Now, the ex-Bridgestone could become priority for hiring.

So much for the promises, it remains to be seen if the actions will follow.

863 employees and their families strongly hope so.

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• Factory

• Closing

• Social plans

• Lille