French Government Criticizes Total Over Plans For Job Cuts

PARIS (AFP)--A government minister slammed the energy giant Total SA (TOT) Monday after France's largest firm announced it would cut jobs despite enjoying the most profitable year in French corporate history.

Philippe Goebel, managing director of Total Petrochemicals France, told AFP posts would be lost - mostly through retirements - at several of the subsidiary's French plants, offices and research centers but there would be no compulsory redundancies.

Nevertheless, coming less than a month after the Total parent company announced it had made a French record profit of EUR13.9 billion last year, the announcement sparked anger.

"In this period of crisis, many firms are in difficult situations, have no profits or falling turnover and nevertheless are doing all they can to protect jobs," complained Employment Minister Laurent Wauquiez.

"That a group like Total, which made billions in profits, isn't able to set an example in terms of employment at a time like this sticks in my throat...They'd be well advised to change their behavior quickly," he warned.

Goebel, however, insisted the job cuts were a result of overcapacity in world petrochemical production and promised the firm would create 100 new jobs in a partnership deal with GDF-Suez (GSZ.FR) to produce solar panels.

The job losses were announced at a meeting with labor unions.

Afterwards, Aldo Scalzo of the CGT union, accused bosses of leaving French "industry on the scrapheap through a policy of outsourcing production to the Middle East, Qatar and Algeria."