Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) has confirmed a restructuring plan that will result in 47 job losses across its commercial and field sales operations in France.
Three of the four trade unions involved in negotiations have signed a collective agreement with the group, giving the restructuring plan significant, if not unanimous, backing.
The unions that signed the agreement, according to Libération newspaper, were the Syndicat Hippique National, Autonome, and Force Ouvrière, completing the process earlier this week.
The agreement still requires formal approval from France’s labour authorities before the restructuring can be fully implemented across the organisation.
PMU’s Employment Protection Plan (PSE) was first launched in April by new CEO Cyrille Giraudat as part of a broader effort to restructure the group’s sales department.
The overall plan involves cutting 128 roles while simultaneously creating 81 new positions, producing a net reduction of 47 jobs across the business.
Around 350 staff members will be affected by the restructuring, with the changes focused primarily on regional sales and outreach divisions rather than PMU’s Paris headquarters.
The French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) refused to sign the agreement and has been vocal in its opposition, criticising the decision to target regional teams while leaving the Paris headquarters untouched.
The CFDT argued that field teams are the backbone of PMU’s network of 14,000 bar-tabac retail partners, describing the cuts as a “commercial contradiction” that undermines the very people responsible for maintaining crucial retail relationships and attracting younger audiences to horse racing.
PMU remains Europe’s largest racing network, but the organisation faces mounting structural challenges as its customer base continues to age and previous efforts to draw in younger audiences have fallen short.
The group’s stakes fell by 2% to €6.6bn in its most recent reporting period, underlining the financial pressure driving Giraudat’s push to modernise the sales operation.
The tension between cutting costs and preserving the retail relationships that sustain PMU’s commercial reach will likely define how this restructuring is judged in the months ahead.
