STMicro to temporarily cut 50% of French production

The company signed the accord on Wednesday night together with the of its main unions – which represent more than half of the company’s French workforce – and will run until the second of April, a company spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. All of STMicroelectronics’ production sites in the country will be affected by the measures. “The goal is to reduce activity in order to reduce the number of people on production sites as much as possible,” said Jean-Pierre Kiledjian, the leader of CFE CGC union at STMicro, told Reuters. Up until just recently the French production units were working at full capacity to meet increased orders for chips for the next generation smartphones and low-emission cars. Kiledjian told Reuters that the production had already stated to drop due to the absence of some employees following government recommendations to stay at home. The employees will be able to stay at home on a rotating basis and will keep their full salary, whether they work at the plant or not, the report concludes.