Labor unions in France said that Sanofi-Aventis' manufacturing overhaul--which we told you about yesterday--will result in as many as 1,000 lost jobs there, La Tribune reports. Some 200 jobs at the Romainville plant slated for closure and another 800 at a chemicals facility in Neuville-sur-Saone are at risk, unions told the paper (as reported by Bloomberg).
Sanofi is retooling plants that manufacturing chemically based drugs--whose sales are expected to drop in the next few years as the products fall off patent--to produce biotech meds and vaccines. That will put manufacturing capacity where Sanofi needs it: in product types it expects to grow.
Sanofi alluded to possible job losses in yesterday's announcement, saying that it would offer "job stimulus" in Romainville to help make up for the closure of the plant. The company also said it plans to retrain some 700 workers for jobs at its facilities converted from chemicals manafacturing to biotech and vaccines production. And some workers will be transferred to jobs at other Sanofi operations in France. We'll have to wait and see just how many workers end up off the company's payroll.
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