The iconic Meccano plant in Calais, which produces century-old construction toys, is due to close by 2024, its owner, the Canadian group Spin Master, announced on Tuesday. Negotiations on a PSE are due to open in March to determine the future of the 50 employees.
Pointing to the “lack of competitiveness of the site”, the group indicated in a press release that it had “no other choice but to consider stopping the industrial activities of the Calais plant by the first quarter. 2024”.
A financial balance never achieved
The plant “has never managed to reach a financial equilibrium”, while it is “faced with difficult market conditions, aggravated by the recent surge in the costs of raw materials and energy”, adds Spin Master . The group recalls having invested “7 million euros since 2014”, without however managing “to rectify the situation in the long term”.
The objective “is now to provide individual support to each of the 50 employees concerned”, and the management “will soon engage in negotiations with the social partners to define the terms of a job protection plan”.
Established in Calais since 1959 and acquired in 2014 by Spin Master, the Calais factory is “the only toy production site” belonging to the Canadian group. But Spin Master also has Meccano toys and other brands produced by “a network of partners” located “in Europe, Asia and Latin America”, a management spokesperson told AFP.
The management informed the staff and employee representatives during the day. It will open, on March 2, the legal procedure providing for two months of negotiations with the social partners, before the examination of the PSE project by the labor administration. Spin Master ensures that it remains “open to all proposals that a potential buyer might make for the site”.
