Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
The management of telecoms network installer Scopelec has announced to the social and economic committee (CSE) the forthcoming implementation of a restructuring and employment safeguard plan (PSE) aimed to cut 800 to 900 jobs. The PSE is to be negotiated in the coming weeks with the employee representatives. The cooperative company was placed in safeguard procedure on 17 March, after having lost 65% of the contracts with the operator Orange for the installation of optical fibre and the maintenance of telecommunications networks, on the renewal of public tenders. Scopelec has been losing 40% of its turnover since April 2022. The contractual losses will deprive around 1,500 of the 3,600 employees of France's largest workers' production cooperative of work. Most job cuts will be in the regions of Occitanie (around 500 jobs), Nouvelle Aquitaine (500), Normandie (200) and Lyon. Of the 1,500 employees affected, 700 have already left for companies that have won Orange's contracts, or for companies outside the telecoms sector. The employment safeguard plan will determine the departure conditions for the other employees. The cooperative estimates the cost of the PSE at €50 million and is unable to finance it, risking bankruptcy. Therefore, it asked Orange to partially support the PSE.
Currently, Scopelec employs 3,600 people in France.
A previous business expansion was recorded in the ERM database in 2016, with 300 job creations (Scopelec-2016-FR).
Updated [12.05.2022]:Orange has made a new proposal to Scopelec that should allow the latter to cut only 450 jobs, instead of the 800 initially mentioned. Orange has agreed to improve its initial offer by proposing to grant Scopelec an additional €45 million in business for the next 18 months.
Eurofound (2022), Scopelec, Internal restructuring in France, factsheet number 106820, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/106820.
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