Illustration of the pharmaceutical group Sanofi.

-

Andrea Ronchini / Pacific Press // S

The Sanofi unions denounced Monday an outsourcing project that threatens the positions of 424 employees in commercial functions in 14 European countries, whose "it is the turn" to "pay their tribute to the restructuring of the pharmaceutical group".

"Because the turnover would be insufficient there (insufficient compared to what?), The group decided to outsource the sale and the promotion of Sanofi drugs" in these countries, protest in a press release the representatives of the personnel within of the European works council (EWC).

Indignation of the elect

These elected officials are protesting against “the financial and short-term policy of Sanofi”, which “continues to be destructive for its own employees and endangers its own future”.

The job cuts caused by this outsourcing "are not among those announced in June 2020" by management, told AFP Michel Moine (CFE-CGC), deputy secretary of the EWC.

Sanofi management was then targeting up to 1,700 jobs cut in Europe, including a thousand in France.

This project "had not been mentioned at all in June", confirmed Aline Eysseric (CFDT), secretary of the EWC.

In a statement to AFP, the management of Sanofi explains that the group "is moving towards the development of new business models in certain geographical areas", as part of its strategy launched at the end of 2019. The objective is to "guarantee sustainable access to our medicines and vaccines for patients while optimizing our presence and efficiency in certain European markets ”, underlines the management.

This "organizational project for Central and Eastern Europe" concerns "a limited number of European countries (14), where Sanofi has a relatively limited structure", she adds.

"The project introduces the possibility of working with specialized partners" to "reach the greatest number of patients" and "ensure the sustainability of our activity in the long term", she develops.

"Stop restructuring"

"If these partnership projects were to be confirmed, one of the major conditions will be the employability of Sanofi employees in the countries concerned (424 employees in total in these 14 countries)", concludes management.

According to the elected representatives of the EWC, “Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia” are these countries.

Worried about the “future” of the employees targeted by outsourcing, these elected officials “fear” that they “will not find work in a Europe where health systems will be in great difficulty”.

And “will all Sanofi drugs continue to be distributed (in these countries)?

It is to be feared that a buyer will want to keep only those who bring in the most ”, they apprehend.

In addition, "making this change in the middle of the Covid pandemic is irresponsible," they say.

If the project is completed, elected officials demand that "each employee concerned benefits from support measures commensurate with Sanofi's possibilities and that he be hired by the buyer with a minimum employment guarantee of 5 years without decrease in pay or deterioration in working conditions ”.

Beyond this outsourcing, the elected representatives of the EWC are calling for "the opening of serious negotiations between employee representatives and managers" of Sanofi to "stop restructuring", "increase investment in research" and "redefine a policy of employee management which finally puts people back at the heart ”.

Health

Vaccination: Why has French research fallen behind?

Health

Coronavirus: Sanofi to help package Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines

  • Vaccination

  • Economy

  • Social

  • Pharmaceutical industry

  • Sanofi