The Ministers of Labor and Industry, accompanied by local elected officials and unions, are due to meet with Bridgestone leaders on Monday for a meeting on the closure of the Bethune site by 2021. But is the executive really armed to prevent the loss of 863 direct jobs? 

A meeting to try to save 863 jobs.

In the wake of the announcement of the closure by 2021 of the Bridgestone plant in Béthune, which moved the entire French political class, ministers Elisabeth Borne (Labor) and Agnès Pannier-Runacher (Industry) announced that they would go there on Monday for a meeting on the subject.

They will be accompanied by local elected officials, including the president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand, but also unions, to face the managers of the site.

A movement while muscle to try to bend the Japanese industrial group.

But what exactly can the government do to avoid this announced social disaster? 

Long-term partial activity, the government's anti-dismissal shield

First of all, there is what the executive considers to be its anti-dismissal shield: long-term partial activity.

For a maximum of two years, a company facing a lasting decline in turnover can reduce the working time of its employees by up to 40%.

And during this time, the latter continue to receive their salary almost entirely thanks to financial assistance that the State pays to the employer. 

The government is relying a lot on this lever put in place in the recovery plan, and Prime Minister Jean Castex has also put pressure on companies and branches to seize this tool without delay and massively by negotiating agreements with unions. 

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The closure of the Bridgestone plant in Béthune, a political issue

Political weight

But beyond this device, the executive has another card to play: that of political weight.

Dozens of files are thus monitored like milk on the fire in Bercy.

To avoid bleeding in the workforce, But for example took over its competitor Conforama, at the instigation of the Ministry of the Economy.

The government is also putting pressure on General Electric so that the group reduces the scope of its social plan as much as possible.

It remains to be seen whether this will be sufficient in the case of Bridgestone.