R&D to be spared as Sanofi axes French jobs

Unions have asked the government to intervene after pharmaceutical giant Sanofi announced plans to cut at least 600 jobs in its French workforce.

Sanofi, France’s biggest company by market value, confirmed press reports of impending staff cuts in a statement on 2 February. It said that “around 600 jobs” would be lost in France in the next three years. The cuts would come mainly from offering early retirements and there would not be any compulsory redundancies, Sanofi said. There would also be no impact on R&D staff, the company promised.

However, one of France’s largest trade-union federations the CGT believes that Sanofi will make more job cuts than it has announced. After talks with the company, the CGT calculated that 1,098 jobs will have to go if the company is to fulfil its restructuring plan. Of these, 657 are occupied at the moment and the remaining figure includes open vacancies that will now not be filled. The CGT said that manufacturing is likely to be the hardest hit, with about 400 jobs due to be lost.