INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Siemens may move 10,000 jobs abroad
REUTERS
MUNICH: German manufacturing conglomerate, Siemens, is considering moving more than 10,000 jobs to low-wage countries in eastern Europe and Asia, union sources said on Monday.
Siemens management and the IG Metall engineering union will next week discuss ways to cut costs at several German plants, which could otherwise be at least partially relocated. "The order of magnitude we are talking about here is definitely a five-digit number," a source said. "We assume that Siemens means it seriously."
The talks concern plants at Siemens' mobile and fixed-line phone equipment units and its automation and power transmission units, sources added. Siemens CEO Heinrich von Pierer has been complaining about employment costs in Germany. The group, one of Germany's largest employers with 170,000 domestic staff, is creating jobs abroad, where it makes 80% of sales.
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