FRENCH EQUIPMENT manufacturer Inter-technique plans to expand its workforce outside France, to offset high domestic wage rates and social costs.
Its president Edmond Marchegay says that the company will hire no more employees in France "...to protect today's workforce". He adds that the French industry will die if it does not adapt, underlining that the cost of labour in France is excessive compared to that of Spain, the UK and the USA.
Inter-technique will double its US workforce in 1996, says Marchegay, through its acquisition of IDD, and is increasingly purchasing components from the UK, which is "more competitively priced".
Serge Dassault also warns that work may have to move abroad to areas such as the UK, where engineering labour costs are half those in France.
Source: Flight International