French tire manufacturer Michelin announced on Thursday that it intends to cut 1,500 jobs in France over the next three years, a move it attributes to high energy and production costs, in addition to what it described as “high tax pressures” in the country.
This number represents about 9 percent of the company’s total employees in France, which number 17,000 employees.
Michelin’s human resources director in France and Southern Europe, Olivier Four-Fores, told Agence France-Presse that the process of job cuts will take place through voluntary departure programs, without resorting to forced layoffs.
He explained that about two-thirds of the jobs that will be eliminated will be in administrative departments, while the remaining third will affect industrial operations.
