The move, which will not involve any compulsory redundancies among the 4,500-strong workforce, was presented to worker representatives at an extraordinary works council meeting, the sources said on Thursday.

A spokesman for the company confirmed that one shift may be removed over a prolonged period of time, but would not comment on the figures involved.

"Based on projected volumes in 2017, we may have to adjust our way of working with a progressive move from three shifts to two," the spokesman said.

The Poissy site took over production of Citroen C3s previously produced at Aulnay-sous-Bois following the closure of that factory, also near Paris.

C3 cars are due to be produced in Slovakia beginning in 2017. Output at Poissy is set to fall to 140,000 cars that year, and to 120,000-130,000 in 2018, compared with 235,000 projected for 2016.

Another set of workers - between 210 and 218 - at various PSA sites are to be transferred out of the company and re-employed by the support services firm Cap Gemini, the sources said. Cap Gemini declined to comment.

In a statement the CGT union said it is "in complete disagreement with this policy of outsourcing" and asked that those workers who wished to should be allowed to stay employed by PSA.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Writing by Andrew Callus; editing by Susan Thomas)

Stocks treated in this article : CAP GEMINI, PEUGEOT