French prime minister Dominique de Villepin has confirmed that Airbus is planning around 10,000 job cuts as part of its Power8 restructuring plan, although he stresses that there will be no compulsory redundancies.
Airbus was originally due to stage a works council meeting today to detail its Power8 restructuring plan, but this was cancelled after parent EADS failed to agree national workload shares for the Airbus A350XWB programme.
Asked about the situation on French radio station RTL this morning, Villepin said: “[The restructuring] is a difficult question which requires courage and determination and we must preserve the industrial future of this group. It is 10,000 jobs which are foreseen in the plan.”
|
|---|
He said it was futile to be preoccupied with the exact roles to be affected by the restructuring and urged for equality between French and German sites with no compulsory lay-offs.
Speaking about his telephone contact yesterday with Airbus chief executive and EADS co-chief executive Louis Gallois, Villepin says: “We have posed a clear rule. A solution must be found for everyone, without compulsory redundancies in this company. Each site has its place and role and this is what I said to Louis Gallois.
“There is an additional difficulty and that is that it is a unique company, it is a company which is very largely Franco-German, a European company which must find an equitable solution for both sides.”
He also urges rapid action from EADS and Airbus: “I think it is never good to defer a decision which must be taken. I think that an agreement must be reached quickly. I think that these are difficult subjects, but through negotiations, consultations and with transparency, we can arrive at a good solution for this company.”
Audio download:
Listen to the whole interview between Jean-Michel Aphatie and French prime minister Dominique de Villepin from French radio station RTL's breakfast talk show
Source: FlightGlobal.com