Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
French industrial group Alstom announced that it will close its Belfort plant by 2018. The plant, which has been the company's production centre for locomotives including the TGV, employs currently 480 workers. According to the company, 80 of these may be retained for maintenance tasks while the remaining 400 may be offered the opportunity to transfer to one of Alstom's other French sites. All production is due to be relocated to the firm's Reichshoffen plant in Alsace. The reason cited for the planned closure is a drop in orders, including French government orders, for the national rail network.
Both unions and the French government have criticised the announcement. Prime-minister Manuel Valls has said that it is 'out of the question that Alstom Belfort will close'. Negotiations continue on a solution that will secure the future of the Belfort plant.
Update 26-09-2016: The CEO of Alstom has announced to the Central works council that he intends to postpone the project of closure until the government launches its plan to allocate more activities to the plant of Belfort (mainly through new orders of the SNCF to build new locomotives or train). On 27 September, the CEO will explain to the French National Assembly the reasons of the announced closure.
Eurofound (2016), Alstom, Relocation in France, factsheet number 88638, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/88638.