Founded in 1860 in Espaly-Saint-Marcel near Le Puy-en-Velay in the Haute-Loire region, Papeteries d'Espaly has had a difficult start to the year. At an extraordinary social and economic committee meeting held in mid-February, the management of the packaging board production site announced a plan for collective severance pay. The plan calls for up to 34 voluntary redundancies from the current 145-strong workforce by the summer, representing almost one employee in four.
Costly modernization with no effect on business
According to Eco Brief this decision by the subsidiary of the American group International Paper is motivated by the persistent decline in demand in the corrugated board market. The 2024 financial year closed with a net loss of 2 million euros on sales of around 50 million euros.
This downturn has occurred despite modernization efforts: the mill has invested 5 million euros in new production lines over the past two years. These were designed to support format diversification and meet more fragmented demand, but are now only running at partial capacity. But the investment in machinery has not generated the volumes hoped for.
A vague strategy that worries employee representatives
For the CGT union interviewed by Zoomdici management's strategy appears unclear: investing massively in machines while at the same time committing to a reduction in the workforce is incomprehensible to employees.
At this stage, no site closures are envisaged. However, an entire department could be dismantled, according to CSE discussions reported by Le Progrès . This plan, even if limited to volunteers, could lead to a loss of skills that would be difficult to reverse.
For the time being, the unions remain mobilized to try to limit the effects, while uncertainty prevails over the short-term outlook.
