TUI France: towards a new plan to save jobs due to lack of "voluntary departures”

In the absence of 82 positions to fill the target under its voluntary redundancy plan, the management of TUI France has extended its call for applications until April 2, 2014.

This decision allows some employees of the company, candidates on the brink of departure, to finalize their professional upgrading project, said a spokesman.

Before confirming this extension, an extraordinary Works Council must soon be convened. This procedure is mandatory. It is intended to seek the opinion of the Work Council on the issue.

But it the council will only have "an advisory status," says Lazare Razkallah, general secretary of the Work Council and a CGT representative. The extension will take place.

At the end of these four new weeks if the 82 departures are not registered, management is considering an Employment Protection Plan to reach the planned 306 losses anticipated by the company Perspectives.

But by opting for this solution, the management is in for a bumpy ride. Which could lead to a showdown with the Works Council.

What is more: "the CGT will not sign an Employment Protection Plan" warns Lazare Razkallah. The organization largely prevails among the staff of TUI France, which therefore means that it may not be possible to reach an agreement on a social plan.

In this case, it would be up to the Work Council to negotiate the terms of the plan. Meaning that there are very numerous meetings and lengthy discussions to come.

"I think we are coming to the end of the procedure. We have a great company with 3 great brands and our employees are experienced and of high quality, whom we must rely on instead of launching a new Employment Protection Plan,” regrets the CGT representative.

We are the first on the French market and we must prove it!"

To justify his opposition to the management’s project, he gives the example of the travel agencies Nouvelles Frontières which are closing under the employment redundancy plan and are taken over by competitors of TUI France.

"Why do they have faith when we let them down?" asks the union’s representative.

Concerning the company Perspectives, TUI France is expecting the closure of 30 outlets and 27 others to shift to franchises. As of now, 18 closed and 12 franchisings have been stopped. As for the progress of the other companies, the negotiations are "advancing well.”

Among the jobs to remove, 260 (274 in total, but 14 had already been suppressed, Editor's note) were open to voluntary redundancy and 32 were included in the shift to franchises.

After the first 8 weeks dedicated to deposits of applications for voluntary employee departure, 178 requests were made.

For their part, staff representatives always advise against the group’s employees to settle for the voluntary redundancy plan.

Another month of calm before the storm...