Electrical equipment maker Schneider Electric could cut over 130 jobs in France as it restructures its production of prefabricated power substations and shrinks the segment's staff by a third, a company spokesman told Reuters.
Talks with labour representatives over a redundancy plan will start in December, the spokesman said, confirming a planned restructuring that the CFDT metal workers' union condemned in a statement on Thursday.
Substations carry electricity from power plants and transmission lines and transform it from high to lower voltage to distribute it to consumers and firms.
A sluggish economic backdrop in Europe has prompted companies to slash their capital spending, while belt-tightening from governments has weighed on public investment, depressing sales of such equipment.
Demand for the substations has fallen over each of the past three years, while competition from smaller players has become tougher, Schneider's spokesman explained.
Schneider wants to reorganise its production of substations, currently scattered across four sites in France, to regroup activities by speciality, cut costs and be more competitive.
Schneider has already restructured its medium-voltage business after it took over the power distribution business of energy group Areva in 2010.
In its southern site of Fabregues, near Montpellier, it plans to cut over 100 jobs out of 150 as it narrows the plant's focus on making metallic substations. These are lighter than common concrete substations and can be exported and installed where companies need them, including in mines and oil rigs.
Schneider also plans to shut down completely one site east of Paris, in Saint-Soupplets, where it employs around 30 people.
Schneider will seek to avoid layoffs and help workers find other jobs inside and outside the group, the spokesman said. (Reporting by Natalie Huet and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Andrew Callus)
