SFR wants to balance its redundancy plan this week – Le Figaro

The telecom operator wants to eliminate a third of its workforce, or 5,000 jobs by the end of 2017. It seeks the agreement of the trade unions in the coming days.

the countdown has begun for employees of SFR. The operator wants to eliminate 5,000 jobs, or about a third of its workforce, and wants to complete negotiations with the unions in the coming days. Tuesday, Myriam El Khomri, the Minister of Labour, received the staff representatives and the management of SFR, represented by its president, Michel Combes, and its director general, Michel Paulin. The Minister said he wanted to “ensure social dialogue” and “respect for SFR commitments” relating to employment.

“It’s a marketing meeting!” Criticizes a union representative. “We meet regularly with the government on these issues. Whether representatives of Bercy or the Ministry of Labour, “said his side a spokesman Altice, the parent company of SFR. After unveiling his plans, management wants to go fast. staff representatives and management to negotiate hard. On Monday, the meetings ended at 3am.

First departures from 2016

These shall be conducted while the commitments made at the redemption SFR by Numericable in 2014 by its main shareholder, Patrick Drahi, still run. He had promised to maintain employment for 36 months. That is to say, until the end of June 2017. But for the first departures take place on that date, begin negotiations with the social partners very early. It would be as voluntary redundancy.

Also, this commitment does not apply to Group distribution subsidiaries. The job cuts could therefore take place in two stages. Some 1,000 jobs are to be involved in the distribution of the end of the year. Management wishes that the new organization is in place in the distribution “before the year-end holidays, which are a key period” to union sources.

Then, at the end of the commitment on employment, that is to say in June 2017, the first voluntary departure could take place in the rest of the group. “Management wants from 4,000 people between June and the end of 2017 is unrealistic,” denounces Sana Iffach Delegate CFE-CGC, who worries about the sustainability of the company. “We are realistic and pragmatic. There are duplicates in the company. But with 5000 job cuts, layoffs speaking fellows! “Will prevail Fabrice Pradas, Steward Unsa SFR.

Customers services affected first

To achieve its objectives, management of SFR will be generous. Departures should be “the conditions of Vivendi plan in 2013,” 2.5 months of pay per year of service. But if the group does not reach its target of reducing its workforce to 10,000 people on permanent contracts at the end of 2019, it could carry out forced redundancies. Unions are concerned about the consequences there might be among subcontractors and fear that some positions are outsourced.

Meanwhile, the operator’s management justifies the need for job losses by many factors. First, SFR, Numericable’s history, “born of a stack of societies.” SFR notably bought Neuf Cegetel, before falling into the hands of Numericable. Management also refers to the general market trend. Telcos are passed to the “digitization” of their organization. More operations are computerized, automated, including interactions with customers. Customer services are the first affected by the job cuts. Patrick Drahi already mentioned several times that the commitments on employment penalized the group and its employees.