14,000 Workers Stage Work Stoppage At French Plants

In the aftermath of Wednesday's announcement of job cuts for 10,000 Airbus workers throughout Europe, labor unions say the planemaker and its parent company should prepare for massive protests, and work stoppages.

"We will not simply accept the concept of the EADS board," said Rüdiger Lütjen, the head of the Airbus Germany works council, to the International Herald Tribune. "We will fight for every job."

Union officials report some organized efforts have already begun. On Wednesday -- hours after details of the restructuring plan laid out by parent company EADS, in its attempt to makeover the struggling manufacturer -- nearly 14,000 blue- and- white-collar workers at four French sites stopped work for two hours.

"The response has been massive," said Force Ouvriere spokesman Julien Talavan, adding French and German workers are planning coordinated protests by the middle of this month. "This is just the beginning."

Airbus CEO Louis Gallois said the company expects most of the job cuts will come from subcontractors and temporary employees -- limiting losses among Airbus workers to around 5,000. Gallois added the company would seek those remaining cuts through early retirement plans, and voluntary layoffs... but he added the company would resort to forced layoffs if necessary.

As Aero-News reported Wednesday, Airbus has over 56,000 employees throughout its plants in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and Germany. The "Power8" restructuring plan calls for 3,200 jobs to be cut at French factories, and another 1,100 corporate-level jobs at the company's Toulouse headquarters. German facilities will suffer 3,700 job losses, with 1,600 UK workers getting the axe and another 400 in Spain.

Airbus plans to court partners for three plants -- Filton in the UK, Meaulte in France and Germany's Nordenham. The company will sell its Laupheim, St. Nazaire-Ville and Varel plants outright.

The planemaker's newest widebody offerings, the A380 superjumbo and the A350XWB, are the reason for much of Airbus' current economic misfortunes. A series of production delays have plagued the A380, pushing its scheduled delivery date 22 months past what was originally promised. Last year, the company's original A350 proposal underwent a costly redesign, to make it more competitive against Boeing's upcoming 787 Dreamliner.

Airbus has also suffered against a weakening American dollar. Airbus' parts and production costs are in euros... but the planes are sold in dollars.

"A strong euro is a choice," Gallois said Wednesday. "Unfortunately, I am not in charge of the currency policy of Europe."

FMI: www.airbus.com