What should be done with the old employees of Usinor ? Prediction and retrospective analysis

• Daniel ATLAN
  Human Resources, Usinor
  
• Joël SIMON
  Director, Centre Benoît Frachon (training centre for executives of the CGT, French Trade Union)
  

Summary

The steel industry, having helped reconstruct the country, was in a state of collapse at the end of the 1970s. It was forced to reduce its workforce drastically. In the years that followed, entire regions found themselves socially devastated, which sparked off conflicts on a vast scale. Lowering the retirement age was not enough to stop the disaster escalating. The decision was made to force people to take early retirement at the age of 50. However, the authorities, which had already given 100 billion Francs, did not want to pay any more. At this moment, Usinor achieved an amazing feat : new measures, in which no one believed, enabled them to avoid having to offer complete early retirement. Steelworkers once again worked up to the age of 60, and this transition took place without difficulty…

Summary translated from French by Rachel MARLIN.

• The entire article was written by Lucien CLAES.

To obtain this article, you can :

• download it for free in French (PDF help) or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference VC161100).

The entire article appears in French in the Journal de l'École de Paris du management N° 29.