RENAULT SIGNS AGREEMENT TO PROVIDE FRESH IMPETUS TO RENAULT’S GROWTH AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN FRANCE

On March 13, 2013, Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn and representatives of France’s CFDT, CFE-CGC and FO unions signed the Renault Agreement, termed as ‘A Contract to Provide Fresh Impetus to Renault’s Growth and Social Development in France’

The Renault Agreement was submitted the previous day to the Group and Subsidiary Works Councils for consultation

This agreement, which is the fruit of a particularly rich dialogue with the social partners, is decisive in providing a fresh boost to growth in France

Within the framework of the Renault Agreement, the different measures negotiated with the unions have enabled the company to make a certain number of key commitments that will ensure continued activity and employment in France in the future.

Renault has committed to producing at least 710,000 vehicles in France by 2016, compared with just over 530,000 vehicles in 2012. This will take the overall utilisation rate of the facilities in France to more than 85 percent and permits long-term visibility for the activity of the company’s French sites until 2016, and furthermore up to 2020. This level of activity will also be beneficial to all the French mechanical component plants that produce parts for suspension systems, engines and transmission, as well as to the logistics platforms.

Through the terms of today’s agreement, Renault has also committed to maintaining activity at all its production sites in France, as well as at its engineering, sales and marketing, and tertiary services departments.

This agreement is the fruit of almost nine months of discussions and negotiations with the unions and has collectively resulted in finding structural and sustainable solutions to face a changing European automotive market. Thanks to this accord, the company will be able to consolidate its French base while at the same time growing on the international front with a view to adapting to today’s worldwide automobile industry.

This year, a watchdog committee will be set up to make sure that the terms of the agreement are met. The mission of this committee – which will be made up of three representatives from each of the unions that signed the accord, along with representatives of the company’s senior management – will be to monitor the introduction of the measures specified in the accord. It will focus notably on four areas: the utilisation rate of manufacturing capacity, the accord’s social measures, research and innovation, and the automotive industry.

The agreement will apply to all Renault sas’s automobile-based establishments, as well as to its MCA, SOVAB, STA, RST, ACI Villeurbanne, Sofrastock international and Fonderie de Bretagne manufacturing subsidiaries.

Following the official signature, Carlos Ghosn said, “I would like to hail the work that has been undertaken over the past several months with a view to producing such an exemplary agreement. I would also like to thank all the unions who fully assumed their role as partners. Thanks to their engagement, as well to our mutual determination to concert and look ahead to the future, we have been able to rise successfully to the challenge of producing an agreement which not only complied with the rules of collective bargaining, but which is also just for the workforce and which provides solid foundations for the company’s sustainable growth. This agreement is excellent news for Renault and for those businesses involved in the automotive industry in France. Indeed, it provides proof that an approach based on a spirit of social innovation and responsibility can open up new and promising horizons.”

MS
14.03.2013
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