Siemens chief executive officer Peter Löscher announced the grim news in a letter to staff on Friday. "We have to catch up here and that's what we're doing," Löscher wrote. "We want to clarify the situation and work out a fair deal for those employees affected, avoiding social hardship."
According to Bild, Germany will see at least 6,400 jobs go by the year 2010. For now, that means 800 layoffs in Munich and around 300 in Berlin. The Munich daily Süddeutsche Zeitung recently reported that Siemens plans worldwide layoffs of up to 17,000, of which 12,500 would be in management and administration.
Siemens already announced its cost cutting plans in April when the company said it was aiming to reduce costs by 1.2 billion Euros by 2010. This means potentially closing down some company sites, but whether this includes factories in Germany is not yet certain.
Siemens is also planning to lay off every tenth job at its Mobility transportation unit, which has factories in Berlin, Braunschweig, Krefeld and Munich. According to Die Welt newspaper, half of the layoffs will come from Mobility´s management.
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