Sunday, July 27, 2008

Siemens unveils huge layoff plan involving 16,750 jobs


BERLIN (AFP) — German engineering giant Siemens unveiled on Tuesday one of its biggest restructuring plans ever, saying 16,750 jobs would be cut worldwide, almost one-third of which would be at home.
Siemens, which employs 400,000 people around the globe, said in a statement that most of the cuts, around 12,600, would be in administration and management services, while "restructuring projects" would eliminate another 4,150.
Of the total number of jobs lost, 5,250 would come in Germany, the company said.
"The speed at which business is changing worldwide has increased considerably, and we're orienting Siemens accordingly," the statement quoted Siemens chief executive Peter Loescher as saying.
"Against the backdrop of a slowing economy, we have to become more efficient," he added.
Sites that employed the most number of employees would see the biggest cuts, including German facilities in Erlangen, Munich, Nuremberg and Berlin.
"We want to begin negotiations with the employee representatives quickly in order to make the cuts in a way that will be as socially responsible as possible," personnel director Siegfried Russwurm said.
Loescher said that the sprawling conglomerate, which makes products from light bulbs to power stations and trains, had to catch up with its main rivals, such as the US group General Electric.
He had already set a target of reducing administration and management costs by 1.2 billion euros (1.9 billion dollars) by 201

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