A trades union campaign to persuade British car buyers to boycott Peugeot and Citroën in protest at the planned closure of the Ryton plant near Coventry has been condemned by one of the company's top executives.
Jean-Marc Nicolle, the director of strategy at PSA Peugeot Citroën, described the boycott, which is being backed by a £1m advertising campaign, as a "mistake". "The trade unions have no mandate [for a boycott]," Mr Nicolle said, adding that he expected it to have little impact on sales or PSA strategy. "The boycott is ... against the open market in Europe - it's bad politics," he said. The company expressed bafflement about a campaign which, if effective in cutting sales, could threaten jobs elsewhere in the UK.
The trades union reacted strongly to the attack. "The point of the boycott is to get Peugeot Citroën to the table for meaningful negotiations. Where else have our members got to go in terms of a campaign which is going to have an effect on Peugeot Citroën?" a Transport and General Workers Union spokesman said. As to a boycott reducing sales, the spokesman said evidence showed that sales fell when companies closed UK plants.
Roger Maddison, Amicus national officer for the automotive industry, acknowledged that the campaign was a radical step, but it had been undertaken because "the workers have no rights and no recourse in Britain today. It is not just about Peugeot Citroën, it's a warning to other multinationals."
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders yesterday showed Peugeot sales rose 16% last month compared with June 2005, but are up just 0.58% on the year to date. Citroën sales fell almost 8% last month and are down 4.7% on the year to date.
The T&G and Amicus are furious at what they see as the company's refusal to give serious consideration to their alternative plans for the plant's future. The company plans that Ryton will switch from two shifts to one shift next week and will close by the middle of next year. More than 2,000 jobs will be lost. The unions are pressing for the plant to be kept running on a single shift producing the Peugeot 206 until 2010 and then introduce a new model, currently earmarked for a new plant in Slovakia.
Mr Nicolle said single-shift running would add €70m (£49m) a year to costs, while production of the new model would be €100m a year higher at Ryton. The T&G spokesman responded: "We have never challenged the view that Ryton is more expensive than Slovakia. The issue is whether Ryton is profitable. It is both profitable and productive."
