Peugeot wins union backing for 1,300 domestic job cuts

PARIS (Reuters) - Peugeot maker PSA Group (PEUP.PA) said on Friday it had won unions' backing for plans to eliminate 1,300 jobs using a new form of voluntary cuts introduced by President Emmanuel Macron.

Five out of the carmaker's six unions approved the job cuts, which are balanced by an identical number of new permanent hires, PSA said in a statement.

PSA, which has been trimming its French workforce under Chief Executive Carlos Tavares, is among a first handful of companies to use the new flexible labour measures introduced within months of Macron's election last May.

The planned cuts were approved by the CFDT, CFE/CGC, CFTC, FO and GSEA unions. The leftwing CGT refused to lend its support for what it described as "this latest redundancy plan".

(Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)