Layoffs Looming?
June 26, 2008
Siemens boss Peter Loescher tried to play down fears that the company was readying for massive layoffs.
"We will try and make this as socially acceptable as possible," Loescher told daily Die Welt newspaper on Thursday, June 26.
Siemens will likely leave positions vacant, offer internal training programs and try to hand off employees to companies it works with, sources told Die Welt.
Job loss could top 10,000
Siemens has already announced it wants to slash its administrative costs and implied that posts would be eliminated.
The German trade union IG Metall has publicly worried that Siemens will cut 10,000 jobs worldwide. Some analysts have taken an even dimmer view, estimating that as many as 20,000 jobs are at risk.
Siemens sources close to the matter quoted by German media that 15,000 administrative and management posts will be axed. Of that, 3,000-4,000 will be lost in Germany, a personnel representative told Die Welt.
"I think however that there will be no outright redundancies," the unidentified source said.
Decision expected in July
An announcement could come soon as Siemens directors and personnel representatives are planning to meet in early July.
The German company is undergoing a massive reorganization. It has already announced 3,800 job cuts at its SEN telecommunications systems unit and another 1,000 cuts at its lighting system division, Osram.
Siemens, one of Germany's biggest companies, manufactures a wide range of products from light bulbs to power stations. It employs about 413,000 people in 190 countries.