Sanofi wants to remove a thousand jobs in France, a plan shameful for the unions

According to the president of the branch in France of the group, it is not a social plan related to the Covid-19, but of a reorganization that corresponds to a "new strategy".

The giant French pharmaceutical Sanofi announced on Friday the suppression of 1700 jobs in Europe, including one thousand in France, a reorganization that corresponds to a "new strategy" according to Olivier Bogillot, the president of France of the group, not a social plan related to the consequences of the Covid-19. This redundancy plan, which was presented to the european social partners Friday morning regarding a thousand of the 25,000 employees in France (about 100 000 in the world), said Olivier Bogillot.

In December, the group indicated its desire to streamline its expenditures, with a goal of two billion euros in savings by 2022, including by stopping the research in diabetes, one of the hearts of traditional craft, as well as in the cardiovascular. The redundancy plan, which must be done in France "exclusively on the basis of volunteerism" and to be spread over three years, for posts "in CDI for the most part, including "support functions, commercial and platforms related to the search", a detailed Olivier Bogillot.

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A meeting is scheduled on Monday to "unfold the sheet strategic" to the French social partners, he added, without specifying the compensation which would be offered to employees nor the envelope provided to fund the stop-departures. Will be affected some sites in the Île-de-France on support functions at the international office rue de la Boétie in Paris, at the campus val de Bièvre (Val-de-Marne) or other places in France, but especially in our tertiary sites," said the president of France. There will be no factory closures, said Sanofi.

Wrath of the unions

This new plan of abolition of posts is huge. It is unthinkable for us. We can not understand, we do not agree and we will fight these job cuts, which do not have a place to be. They are used to what?" protested Florence Faure, coordinator CFDT (first union at Sanofi).

worrying about the announcement of the plan "in a climate of anxiety currently for all employees of the group" and a week after the suicide of a female employee at his place of work in Gentilly, Val-de-Marne), the responsible CFDT stressed that "these are humans who are tossed about" by the group's strategy "announced in December", which leads to these deletions of posts. "The management takes its responsibilities. It was quite sophisticated", she added.

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With this new plan, "it is the continuation of the dismantling of the group and of the outsourcing of activities. Sanofi wants to spend a total of 300 drugs to sell only a hundred," said "very angry," Thierry Bodin, coordinator CGT (3rd union). "The group wants to preserve that which is most profitable" and "disengage drugs less profitable, even if they have a major therapeutic interest. It is health for the money", he accused.

"It is catastrophic, unbearable, unacceptable, and shameful. It has no words so it is in the ongoing restructuring," said Thierry Bodin. The last plan of staff reduction, announced in June 2019 (nearly 470 job cuts in research and development in France and in Germany, of which almost 300 are in the Hexagon), "is still ongoing", he stressed. "This plan is not completed as the management announces a new", he criticized.

With the impact of the new plan, "in ten years, from eleven to three sites of research and development (R&D) in France for the part pharmaceutical of Sanofi," he worried. And "the government says nothing, lets do it", then that Sanofi receives "each year 110 to 120 million euros in research tax credit". "Emmanuel Macron was aware when he went to visit the factory of Marcy-l'étoile (Rhône) in the last week", he said.

Increase in dividends to shareholders

The laboratory had a turnover in the first quarter of almost 9 billion euros, an increase of 6.9% due to half the pandemic of Covid-19, during which time his sales of pain medications were drugged like the Doliprane. The group planned to pay a dividend higher than that of the previous year to its shareholders, for a total amount of nearly 4 billion. Against the current of the number of companies that have either reduced or cancelled their dividends due to the health crisis.

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