France: crisis agreement struck at Renault includes solidarity mechanism to boost compensation during short-time working and prepares for resumption of activity

The production activity of all factories in France was brought to a halt on 17 March, which led to almost all other activities at these sites being put on hold over the following days. Logistics activity came to a halt on 18 March. Commercial activities were abruptly ceased due to the closure of branches and franchises, while engineering and services have been at 50% capacity since 30 March. “More than 18,000 employees were then put on short-time working, joined on Monday 30 March by more than 14,000 others who are working remotely in the morning and on short-time work in the afternoon,” according to a statement from the FGMM-CFDT.…