Alstom puts Belfort closure on hold pending government plan

26 Sep, 2016

PARIS: Plans for the partial closure of Alstom's historic Belfort site in northeastern France are on hold pending the presentation of a government plan aimed at helping the train maker to maintain production, unions said on Monday.

Chief Executive Henri Poupart-Lafarge told workers' representatives that the closure plan was suspended until the plans had been disclosed, a CFE-CGC union official said. The government is due to present its proposals on Sept. 30.

The Socialist-led government is in talks with Alstom to prevent the company transferring manufacturing from the plant, which made France's first high-speed trains as well as the company's first steam engine in 1880.

Alstom, which is 20 percent state-owned, unleashed a political storm seven months ahead of a presidential election when it announced plans to stop producing trains at Belfort and transfer more than 400 workers to other sites.

Copyright Reuters, 2016

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