Type
Internal restructuring
Country
France
Region
Ouest; Poitou-Charentes; Deux-Sèvres
Location of affected unit(s)
Celles-sur-Belle
Sector
Manufacturing
Manufacture Of Food And Beverage
Manufacture Of Food Products
10.11 - Processing And Preserving Of Meat

210 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
5 October 2023
Employment effect (start)
6 October 2023
Foreseen end date

Description

The Socopa beef processing plant (part of the Bigard group) will close and the 210 employees at the site will lose their jobs. The plant was hit by a fire on the night of 20-21 September 2023, which killed one employee - a maintenance worker. Management announced the closure at a meeting of Socopa's central social and economic committee (CSE).

According to one trade unionist, the plan was for the Celles abattoir not to be operational in 2024 and for its activity to be transferred to the group's larger pig abattoirs, such as Evron, Châteauneuf-du-Faou, Abera and Quimperlé, which were under-utilised. The fire on 21 September would only have speeded things up. According to the trade unionists, management estimated that it would have taken twelve to eighteen months to get the site up and running again. According to the mayor of Celles-sur-Belle, Bigard's management has undertaken to implement a number of measures to facilitate the return to work of the abattoir's employees, either within the company or through retraining.


Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2023), Socopa Viandes, Internal restructuring in France, factsheet number 200421, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/200421.