French tyre workers win minimum 50,000 euro pay-off

PARIS, May 31 (Reuters) - French unions at tyre maker Continental (CONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) (GT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Sunday they had won an agreement from management to give them a minimum pay-off of 50,000 euros ($69,970) in compensation for the plant's closure.

The award is unusually high compared to others recently granted to French workers.

Continental announced in March it would close its site in Clairoix, northern France, as well as its plant in Hanover, Germany, in response to a global collapse in orders.

Workers at Continental, whose highly publicised protests had become a symbol of blue-collar resistance, had refused the 17,000 euros in compensation first offered by the German company.

Management on Friday offered the company's 1,120 workers in France a pay-off starting at 50,000 euros, which would reach up to 100,000 euros for those working for the company for more than 30 years.

Employees would receive their normal salary until October and 85 percent of their pay until 2011 and unemployment benefit, or 75 percent of their salary, until 2014.

The French staff agreed to accept the offer on Saturday and unions said they expected to sign a formal agreement with Continental directors in a little more than a week.

"Solidarity paid off," said Xavier Mathieu, Continental's CGT union representative. "For three months, our mobilisation never weakened ... this demonstrates that power belongs to the people."

Continental workers' protests included hurling eggs at directors, burning tyres in central Paris and protesting in front of the company's headquarters in Hanover.