• In Allier and Puy-de-Dôme, the Goodyear-Dunlop factories have been idling since Thursday, due to a strike.

  • The employees, who were offered a bonus of 16 euros, are demanding an increase in wages “up to inflation”.

  • They are calling for emergency measures in view of the profits made by the company, 764 million for the year 2021.

Production at the Goodyear-Dunlop factories in Montluçon (Allier) and Riom (Puy-de-Dôme) is severely disrupted due to a strike action linked to claims on purchasing power, we learned on Monday from union sources.

In Montluçon, where mainly motorcycle tires are manufactured, only 50% of production is ensured, said David Guillaume, CGT general secretary (majority), reporting 80% of strikers.

The movement on this site, which has 550 permanent employees according to the same source, was launched on Thursday and continued over the weekend.

The strikers are demanding wage increases “in line with inflation” and an increase in the transport premium “to 50 euros gross, against 10 euros gross on average today”.

A bonus of 16 euros: "might as well give nothing at all"

The movement started “from the management's decision to grant a profit-sharing bonus of 16 euros.

Might as well donate nothing at all…”, estimates David Guillaume, specifying that a majority of the employees had decided to donate it to an association.

The management, said this union official, would agree to a substantial salary increase, but in 2023. The latter "does not wish to speak" while a meeting is scheduled for July 21.

The strike also affects the Riom site (retreading of truck tires), "from which almost nothing comes out: 75 tires on Friday against 400 as usual", indicates Didier Raynaud, CFDT delegate and central union delegate.

A profit of 764 million euros

"We are asking for emergency measures, all the more legitimate in view of the profits made by the company", adds the elected representative of the staff of this factory which employs, according to its figures, 92 people.

Goodyear posted $17.5 billion in revenue in 2021, with net profit of $764 million, according to its latest annual report.

In the first quarter of 2022, its sales reached 4.9 billion USD, a figure up 40% year-on-year.

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  • Company

  • Strike

  • purchasing power

  • Economy

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

  • Auvergne

  • Aquitaine