On Tuesday, April 23, 2024, Prefect Jean-Marie Girier gathered in the Prefecture in the Territorial Mobilization Committee the various parties concerned by the announced closure of the Itron site in Chasseneuil-du-Poitou at the end of the year. : representatives of the American company, employees, administration, elected representatives from the region…
The aim was to evaluate the measures taken to mitigate the shock of the social plan, which initially envisaged the elimination of 110 jobs. The point was quickly settled: almost nothing happened for a year. According to our information, today the situation seems even worse.
Already 24 licensees
Mainly on the employment side: the first 24 employees were informed of their layoffs on December 31, 2023. They were the last survivors of the design office that notably designed the famous Line metro. All these top technicians and engineers seem to have found employment in the region.
The layoffs of other employees, especially workers, will continue in three phases: June, September and November. Only about ten Itron employees will remain at the end of the year.
Itron will stop making Line meters at the end of 2024
Ten orders that were to be transferred to the Mâcon plant, where marginal production of Line’s gauges was to continue, did not take place due to a lack of candidates. As a result, according to the union, the group announced its intention to stop production of Line, which could embarrass buyers, especially Enedis. AND “mess” which the CGT particularly condemns.
A proposal by a handful of employees to create their own company to continue manufacturing Linkys failed. In contrast, the small company Pulsadis, specialized in the activity of centralized orders, was established on 1ahem February 2024 and could start operating in a small part of the premises with about ten employees from May.
Former director
Pulsadis is owned by a fund management company based in Saint-Benoît, whose chairman is William Hosono, who is none other than the former director of the Itron website. No other proposal to settle in part of the site, especially in the case of the Vendée industrialist, has yet led to an agreement.
Itron management also offered 25 employees the option to keep their jobs remotely. Only five accepted, say unions. So the final number of job cuts should not be 110, but 140.
According to our information, due to this lack of progress on the matter, the prefect has not set a date for the next meeting.