General Electric plans to reduce its workforce by half at a Loire-Atlantique factory, according to unions

General Electric plans to divide its workforce by almost half at its Montoir-de-Bretagne (Loire-Atlantique) factory, we learned on Friday March 8 from a union source.

Of the 939 people currently employed by the American group in this factory where wind turbine nacelles are manufactured, only 489 will still work there in July, including 429 permanent workers, according to the CGT, confirming information from France Bleu Loire Océan.

“No permanent contract is threatened, management tells us, but not to worry would be irresponsible,” underlines Jonathan Géraud, CGT delegate.

Asked by AFP, General Electric confirmed “adjustments” to the workforce of its subcontractors.

“We are making adjustments to the size of the workforce of our subcontractors on our Montoir-de-Bretagne site in order to adapt to the current challenges of the offshore wind sector,” said a spokesperson. of GE Vernova (entity bringing together GE's energy assets).

“We have communicated directly with the people concerned and we will continue to support them in the next steps,” he adds.

According to the CGT, the delivery of the nacelles, particularly in the North Sea, has fallen behind schedule, forcing the Montoir-de-Bretagne site to store them on site.

“The General Electric parking lot is full because they should have installed around fifty machines and they only installed fifteen,” according to Jonathan Géraud.

LFI MP Matthias Tavel told an AFP correspondent that he had been "alerted" about "difficulties which would be linked to a problem with a client: a broken down installation vessel which would require storage and therefore slow down production ".

A plan must be presented Tuesday by management to the unions, according to the CGT.