Faced with losses, poultry processor Doux in France closed 3 sites and
cuts 647 jobs. The employees stopped work as soon as this morning.
On a board meeting held yesterday morning, the group management poultry of
Doux, located at Châteaulin (Finistère), announced to staff representatives to
open a procedure for informing and consulting on a proposed new industrial
organization of its fresh poultry meat activities in France.
More specifically, facing major losses, Europe's leading poultry firm
(€1.517 billion turnover in 2007) will close three of its production
sites.
The region of Morbihan is particularly hard hit with two factories involved
in the project "rationalization and strengthening productivity."
In Locminé, where Doux has a very long tradition in processing turkeys 451
people lost their job. Most of these jobs are low skilled, with a significant
proportion of couples working in the same factory.
A few kilometers away, the small town of Pleucadeuc is also affected
because of the closure of a duck processing facility. For the 63 people who work
there, the shock is great, especially since Doux was present since 1971.
Finally, in Chatelet management decided to close a broiler processing
facility which employs 133 people.
"The French market represents 37% of our turnover. It is therefore very
important. In these difficult times, we must do everything to preserve our
market share. It is to safeguard the fresh poultry activity in France," explains
Doux management.
A new meeting is scheduled between management and staff representatives on
July 22. Employees of the three sites concerned have decided to strike today.
But unions are not very surprised: "It's clear that the situation at Doux
is perilous since Europe has announced that it ceased refunds, "said Herve
Goachet, departmental secretary of the CFDT Finistère.
At Guerlesquin, in the Finistère, the situation at Doux's subsidiary Tilly
is also worrying.