Peugeot to cut jobs and output at Sochaux plant - unions
STRASBOURG France (Reuters) - PSA Peugeot Citroen will cut 300 jobs as it reduces output at its Sochaux plant in eastern France starting in November, trade union officials said on Monday.
The cuts, announced to labour representatives at a works council meeting, will take effect on an assembly line producing two Peugeot models and the DS5 upscale sedan, unions said.
Managers at the Sochaux plant, which currently employs 10,800 workers, were not available for comment.
Under new Chief Executive Carlos Tavares, Paris-based Peugeot is cutting industrial capacity to optimise plant utilisation rates while reining in inventories of parts, materials and unsold vehicles to free up cash.
The Sochaux plant's biggest-selling model, the Peugeot 3008, is not due for a replacement until 2016.
"That's what concerns us," said Guy Misere, an official with the centre-left CFDT union. "From here until 2016 it can only get worse."
The job cuts, which amount to half a shift at the plant, will reduce the assembly line's daily output to 489 vehicles from 649, the unions said.
(Reporting by Gilbert Reilhac and Gilles Guillaume; Writing by Laurence Frost, editing by David Evans)
