gitaneusa.com Forum Index Register FAQ Memberlist Search

gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Modern Gitane » Distress Call Made by Cycleurope France
Post new topic  Reply to topic View previous topic :: View next topic 
Distress Call Made by Cycleurope France 
PostPosted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 9:35 am Reply with quote
sandranian
Site Admin
Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 2701
Location: Southern California
Distress Call Made by Cycleurope France

MACHECOUL, France – A very unusual protest demonstration took place last week in Nantes, France. Here workers from nearby Cycleurope Machecoul facility pedalled to the city to rally there in a plea to get the French government to install incentives for bikes as there are for cars.

Claude Figueras, plant manager at Cycleurope, Machecoul organized the protest demonstration in cooperation with the trade union CGT. The distress call made by the Cycleurope manager was sparked by a 30% drop in the demand for bikes made in Machecoul.

Local newspapers reported that Figueras organized the rally because of the current publicity around bicycles in France that is presenting an incorrect picture. He commented: “Stop saying that the bike business is doing well. Not true! That false idea comes from publicity around the public bikes rental schemes in cities. Everybody forgets that only 100,000 bikes are involved in such schemes on a total French annual sale of about 3.5 million bicycles.
"nobody helps us"

“We have problems and nobody helps us. It is not only the car that suffers from this crisis. We would like as the car industry also to have an incentive from the government to spur sales!”

Since last fall, the French bike market is struggling. And with a 30% production drop Cycleurope in France is feeling the pinch. “It's worrying,” says Philippe Figueras in a local newspaper. “In normal times, 400,000 bikes a year come from our assembly lines. This year I hope to reach 320,000. To date, we need 10,000 more to achieve that number. After the holidays, I expect to run into cash flow problems.”

It’s not the first time that Cycleurope, Machecoul is faced with difficulties. The company owned by Grimaldi Industri AB in Stockholm, Sweden operates two bike plants in France; next to the one in Machecoul there is also a Cycleurope facility in Romilly. In 2007 Grimaldi Industri AB sold the Machecoul plant in a sale-and-leaseback scheme to the local government for 3 million euros in order to obtain the necessary cash for a revival plan. The photo on this page shows the protest demonstration that took place at that time. Currently 285 people are working at the Machecoul bike plant.

The trade union CGT also called upon the French government to lower the VAT on bikes in France in order to: “Make our products competitive in the face of China and to promote a new environmental movement.” The union would also like cities with rental bike schemes to have their bikes made at French factories.

_________________
Stephan Andranian
Costa Mesa, CA
www.gitaneusa.com
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
 
PostPosted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 1:36 pm Reply with quote
Wisey
Joined: 19 May 2009
Posts: 631
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Either be prepared to pay more for your bikes or be prepared to work for the same wages as the people in the Chinese factories. I would be very sorry to see the factory shut down, but how long can manufacturing really be sustained in countries with high wage expectations? ...... without huge government subsidies.
View user's profile Send private message
Distress Call Made by Cycleurope France 
  gitaneusa.com Forum Index » Modern Gitane
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
All times are GMT - 8 Hours  
Page 1 of 1  

  
  
 Post new topic  Reply to topic  


Powered by phpBB © 2001-2004 phpBB Group
Designed for Trushkin.net | Themes Database.