Michelin announces plans to move 61 Stoke jobs to Eastern Europe
More than 60 jobs at tyre giant Michelin's Stoke-on-Trent base are under threat after plans were announced to move roles abroad. The Michelin Group has announced it is looking at transferring 39 customer contact centre roles from Stoke to Warsaw in Poland by next September.
The French firm is also planning to move 22 positions in its business service department to Bucharest in Romania by the end of next year. Consultations are now set to get underway with affected staff in the hope of minimising redundancies.
Michelin UK employs 720 staff with 450 of those permanently based at the Campbell Road site.
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A Michelin spokesman said: “Highly competitive markets in Europe require a permanent necessity for Michelin to extract value from the market at the same time as working on cost structure to support sustainable profitability in the UK and Ireland.
"The proposal could potentially impact 39 customer contact centre roles based in Stoke-on-Trent and 22 services & solutions roles based in Stoke-on-Trent.
"The next step will be collective and individual consultations to explore the possibility of minimising or avoiding redundancies. In line with Michelin’s core value of respect for people, the wellbeing of its employees will be a fundamental part of the process. Michelin will ensure that impacted employees are the first to be informed of the conclusion of these talks."
The news comes two years after the global giant confirmed to StokeonTrentLive that it had 'no plans' to close its iconic Stoke plant.
Following the jobs announcement, John Howe, managing director of Michelin Tyre plc, said: “Respect for people is one of Michelin’s core values, and employee communication and support will be at the heart of this consultation process.”