Airbus Details Jobs Cuts To Company, Suppliers

The number of jobs to be lost between Airbus and its suppliers numbers in the thousands under the company's Power8 restructuring plan announced earlier this year, reported Reuters.

The restructuring calls for 10,000 European-wide job cuts and six full or partial factory sales by 2010.

With Toulouse, France, as the company's headquarters, that city faces the most severe job losses, reported Le Monde, with 2,305 positions axed at the company's production sites and 964 jobs at Airbus headquarters. The total job loss in France is reported to be 4,100, including 369 jobs cuts in Saint-Nazaire and 295 at Nantes, both in western France, and 192 at Meaulte in the north.

Airbus informed employees of the cuts in a works council meeting Friday. Airbus CEO Louis Gallois met with Union Reps early in April to talk About Power8 cuts.

The restructuring, as reported by ANN, was due to a weak dollar and delays to the A380 superjumbo.

Hamburg, Germany, is set to lose the largest number of production jobs, with 2,317 posts affected.

In Britain, 1,095 jobs are being eliminated at Filton, while 334 jobs are reported to be terminated at Getafe, Spain.

Airbus was not available for comment, according to Reuters.

Workers in France staged wildcat strikes last week over annual profit-sharing payments of less than seven US dollars per worker for 2006, which union officials contrasted with a $10.5 million (US) pay-off for sacked former Airbus chief Noel Forgeard.

Parent EADS faces internal disagreements over whether to agree to a dividend at its annual shareholder meeting on May 4, with opposition to the move likely to make waves on the last day of campaigning in the France's presidential election.

Both remaining French presidential candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal. oppose a payout to investors at a time when thousands of Airbus workers are losing their jobs.

FMI: www.airbus.com