French union ups demand for R-P job safeguards

03 June 1999 11:14  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--French union Federation Nationale des Industries Chimiques (FNIC)-CGT claimed Thursday a precedent of redundancies following previous divestments by Rhone-Poulenc(R-P) and repeated its demand for the government to ensure job security in the group's merger with Germany's Hoechst.

Although R-P and Hoechst have indicated that jobs are to be secure, said FNIC, the union was worried that waves of redundancies could be unleashed following the groups' merger to form life sciences company Aventis. In a statement it said its concerns come from redundancies at former R-P chemicals plants at Genevilliers and Valence.

R-P and Hoechst hope to form Aventis by November but no details of proposed synergistic cost cuts have yet been released. Data from one of Hoechst's early feasibility studies last year on the merger indicated the sale or closure of dozens of plants, but the group said the study was not official and that cutbacks had not been finalised. The union has suggested that R-P and Hoechst have not disclosed information to avoid any strike action ahead of the merger's completion.

FNIC's demand today builds upon its mid-May call to the French government to ensure job security following the R-P/Hoechst merger.

No further information was immediately available from the union.

R-P and Hoechst are expected to give shareholders more detailed briefings of the merger plan in the coming weeks, although it is not known if the information will include in-depth data on plant closures. They plan to hold mid-July extraordinary general meetings (EGMs) for shareholders to vote on the merger. Dates for the EGMs could be set on Friday or early next week, CNI has been told by Hoechst.

By: Patrick Reynolds
+44 208 652 3214

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