Stellantis offers French workers bonus payment to ease inflation pain

By Gilles Guillaume

PARIS (Reuters) – Stellantis will provide financial support worth up to 1,400 euros ($1,350) to most of its employees in France and will bring forward salary negotiations to December to counter surging consumer prices, the carmaker said after talks with unions.

Europe’s cost-of-living crisis is putting upward pressure on wage inflation as companies across the continent face demands from workers to cushion the impact of rising prices.

Stellantis’ aid will include a one-off bonus payment and the possibility to convert three days off for overtime into cash, a company spokesman said.

Some 60% of workers will be eligible for the maximum support while 20% will be entitled to help worth 1,100 euros. The top-earning 20% of workers will not receive anything.

“The proposals made by the management and shared with the social partners make it possible to increase the purchasing power of our employees above the level of inflation,” said Bruno Bertin, director of Human Resources at Stellantis.

A spokesperson for the Franco-Italian carmaker left the door open to similar moves in other countries.

“We manage this inflation topic country by country,” the spokesperson said in an emailed reply to Reuters. “We are working on a co-construction mode with our union partners, respecting local regulations, constraint and timing, in order to make the best proposals to protect both the company and the employees interests.”

Stellantis operates and produces in several countries in the world, including Italy, Poland, the United States and Canada.

Rival carmaker Renault last week offered staff over 1,000 euros in exceptional payments, while retailer Carrefour offered a 2.5% pay hike alongside a 100 euro one-off payment in October and a discount on purchases, unions said.

Wage negotiations slated for the start of 2023 will be brought forward to December, the spokesman said.

The CFDT, one of France’s more moderate trade unions, responded by saying that one-off payments would not resolve the problem of declining purchasing power and that salaries needed to be improved.

The CFDT said it wanted wage talks to start in October.

In Italy, Stellantis and unions are now starting talks to renew the contract for most of the group’s employees in the country, which is due to expire at year-end.

Unions are expected to present their proposal for the new contractual agreement, including for salary increases, next month.

($1 = 1.0373 euros)

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Additional reporting by Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; Editing by Richard Lough, Gareth Jones and Mark Porter)