At the same time, the car group will hire another 1,300 people.

PSA has announced on Tuesday that this year will dispense 1,300 workers from its workforce in France through an incentive scheme created by the new labor reform, although at the same time it will hire another 1,300 people.

In a statement, the company has explained its Work and Skills Adaptation Device (DAEC) for 2018 that it presented to the trade union organizations, and has insisted that it is part of the continuity of the agreement it had signed in July 2016 with five plants that represent 80% of its workforce, which in France is 62,000 employees.

The plan only involves the workers of the group structure, whose functions are concentrated essentially in France and comprise 27,000 employees.

However, the novelty of this year is that with the labor reform of French President Emmanuel Macron, which has made the labor market more flexible, the incentive leave plan does not need to be processed before the Labor Inspectorate, but with the unions, which must give your approval by 50%.

In addition, unlike traditional social plans, it is not necessary for the company to justify it due to economic difficulties, but always provided that the workers voluntarily join.

A spokesperson explained to Efe that the objective for the company of these voluntary redundancies is “to adapt and anticipate the evolution of the sector” in order to “avoid” the dismissals.

For the general secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Philippe Martinez, this new legal mechanism made possible by the reform of Macron “reinforces the precariousness” and “the will of PSA is to transform the indefinite into precarious”.

Martinez has said that the automobile manufacturer has no difficulties neither in its activity nor financial level that justify a mechanism in which, in practice, there are cases of “forced volunteers”.

BY Efe – 01/09/2018 (Translation soft)