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PAEBR332

Psychopolitician #2. Recently Promoted!

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Posted: 2/28/2007 5:57:11 AM EST

Latest Airbus Problems

Airbus confirms to cut plants, 10,000 jobs: union By Nicolas Fichot
1 hour, 20 minutes ago

TOULOUSE (Reuters) - A shake-up at Airbus will slash 10,000 jobs and sell all or part of six factories, French trade union CGT confirmed on Wednesday, as workers protested and politicians hailed a hard-fought compromise.

Airbus Chief Executive Louis Gallois outlined steps which will include cutting 5,000 Airbus staff and 5,000 workers contracted from other firms, CGT official Xavier Petrachi said following a meeting with Gallois.

Unions in the two countries to be hardest hit -- France and Germany -- have threatened strikes and protests should Airbus close plants or force redundancies.

There were protests at Airbus factories in France at Meaulte and St. Nazaire and the head of the European works council warned of wider walkouts.

"It will be a (call to) strike but perhaps a strike is not enough. Airbus is following the route of Boeing to more outsourcing," European works council Chairman Jean-Francois Knepper told France's LCI TV before the meeting with Gallois.

The CGT said three plants are to be sold outright, including two at Varel and Laupheim in Germany and one in St. Nazaire, France.

Airbus will look for investors to take partial stakes in three more -- Filton in England, Nordenham in Germany and Meaulte in France.

Where coveted work will go on Airbus' next new plane, the A350, has also been decided, the CGT said.

The headquarters in Toulouse, France, will assemble the A350 in return for letting the plant in Hamburg, Germany, assemble the successor to the smaller A320 airliner.

Hamburg in the meantime will also get more of the production of the current A320 series, the CGT said.

The details confirmed information from industry sources reported by Reuters earlier.

GOVERNMENTS REACT

Airbus' Power8 restructuring plan was first mooted in October and sparked a split between France and Germany over the distribution of job losses, and the placement of future ones.

Germany said on Wednesday the planned job cuts and factory had succeeded in maintaining a balance between France and Germany.

Economy Minister Michael Glos had briefed the cabinet on a first outline of the plan which succeeded in maintaining an equal burden in terms of cuts and future opportunities, government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters.

Sources close to the talks said British and Spanish leaders had also fought hard to safeguard thousands of Airbus jobs in their countries.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed a victory for the Airbus plant at Filton, one of two in Britain, telling parliament on Wednesday that it had won coveted carbon fiber composites work for the wing of the A350.

"I understand Filton is set to secure manufacture of key wing components on the A350 and that will represent valuable new capability in the UK," Blair told parliament.

SHARING JOB LOSSES

Observers had predicted that the planemaker, run by former French railways boss Gallois, would attempt to ease the impact of the cuts by balancing "core" Airbus jobs and outside contractors.

He is to formally announce the plan, dubbed Power8, at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse at 1400 GMT.

The CGT did not provide a breakdown of where job cuts would land, but industry sources said France and Germany would split about 8,000 job cuts, with 1,500 set for Britain and about 500 for Spain.

Still, forced dismissals are likely to be avoided, as Airbus heeds calls from French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and other leading political figures to avoid sackings workers in the run-up to French elections in April and May.

Socialist candidate Segolene Royal pledged to call for a freeze on job cuts and consult German Chancellor Angela Merkel on further steps, if she wins France's presidential elections.

Unions have made plain that protests and work stoppages could hit Airbus production lines if management closes plants or insists on forced job cuts.

"We totally oppose the closure of any site and we won't accept any firings," said European Metalworkers Federation head Peter Scherrer after a gathering of Airbus unions on Tuesday.

French union Force Ouvriere said selling St. Nazaire or Meaulte would be tantamount to a declaration of war.

The CGT announcement confirmed St. Nazaire-villes is to be sold and outside investors brought in to partly own Meaulte.

British firm GKN Plc, which has been mooted as a possible investor in Airbus' plant at Filton, declined to comment on Wednesday.

Airbus hopes to sell factories to lower costs after a two-year delay in delivering the A380 superjumbo put a 5-billion-euro hole in expected earnings at parent firm EADS.

Slow progress on its next plane, the A350, also underscores the need to reform as rival Boeing's 787 model is set to beat it to market by five years.

Germany had held out for some A350 assembly, but may have achieved the solution it wanted as A320 jobs may be a safer bet if the larger A350 fails to catch up with Boeing's hot-selling 787.

Britain faces job losses alongside its European partners but winning composites work on the A350 was a far better outcome than some had feared after British firm BAE Systems opted to sell its 20-percent stake in Airbus last year.

"We got a lot more than it looked like at Christmas," said one UK official who declined to be identified.

EADS shares were down 0.28 percent at 25.38 euros in choppy trade as of 1337 GMT, outperforming a Paris CAC-40 index which was down 1.14 percent.

(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher, Kerstin Doerr, Marcel Michelson, Jason Neely, Rodolphe Landais, Dan Lalor, Madeline Chambers and Paul Hughes)

More fallout caused by the A380 problems.

"Two things are infinte: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Albert Einstein
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DeltaAir423

Missing Wayne!

Joined Dec 2002
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Posted: 2/28/2007 6:18:35 AM EST

Here's airbus's problem. They are a milti-national consortium, where when everything is going right, everyone smells like a fucking rose. When anything goes wrong, every little department tries to pass off the shit so they don't get the stink on them, and plus you have to deal with every little nuance of every little european countries law so you don't "offend" your union workers. At least with Boeing, you have some sort of chain of command where you can run up. With Airbus, you might as well be in the damn ocean.

Arthur Dent: ALLRIGHT, WHERE IS SHE?!?!?

Vogon Receptionist: Who, the director of robot arm repair?

vmax84 Joined May 2001 Posts 2613 EE Offline MI, USA	Posted: 2/28/2007 6:23:03 AM EST Fuck em'...........go Boeing. vmax84

Brohawk Team Member Joined Apr 2003 Posts 10139 EE Offline SC, USA	Posted: 2/28/2007 6:29:46 AM EST And those silly unions, thinking that strikes will help the company be more competitive and save their "jobs"!
	Welcome to Dar al Harb. Load up a few magazines, settle in, and make good use of your stay here. كافر

warlord Member Joined Dec 2000 Posts 29245 EE Offline CA, USA	Posted: 2/28/2007 7:24:40 AM EST [Last Edit: 2/28/2007 7:56:07 AM EST by warlord] I guess the French vision of European aviation supremacy, just took a "nose dive." Now their consortium is just trying to stay in business. A nasty blow to Franco pride. It just goes to show that when the govts are involved, the coordination and politics are increased exponentially.
	Please help a Muslim jihadist meet Allah & 72 virgins, contribute to WWW.AMERICANSNIPERS.ORG. Hable Usted inglés por favor. Dios bendiga a los Estados Unidos de America Join the NRA, do it for the children.

CFII Proof you can teach a monkey to fly Joined Oct 2002 Posts 5788 EE Offline TX, USA	Posted: 2/28/2007 7:27:57 AM EST Fuck em.
	Sic Vis Pacem, parabellum

BozemanMT

Member

Joined Sep 2004
Posts 3601
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CO, USA

Posted: 2/28/2007 7:30:07 AM EST

Originally Posted By Brohawk:
And those silly unions, thinking that strikes will help the company be more competitive and save their "jobs"!

that is pretty ironic isn't it?
doing the exact thing that it making them want to shut them down.

Claire Wolfe is wrong.

3rdpig Member Joined Sep 2004 Posts 1667 EE Offline AZ, USA	Posted: 2/28/2007 7:54:33 AM EST I made up my mind a long time ago. If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going.

MTUSA Member Joined Oct 2002 Posts 3216 EE Offline CA, USA	Posted: 2/28/2007 8:00:21 AM EST I like good news.

vh2145 Joined Dec 2006 Posts 34 EE Offline NC, USA	Posted: 2/28/2007 8:04:48 AM EST Maybe they can tap into their growing muslim population for some support

MrsWildweasel

Team Member

Joined Feb 2003
Posts 3209
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MA, USA

Posted: 2/28/2007 8:08:33 AM EST

Originally Posted By vmax84:
Fuck em'...........go Boeing.

vmax84

Exactly. Have only flown on an Airbus a few times, and hated everytime. I will stick to Boeing planes.

"We will not tire,we will not falter, and we will not fail" George W. Bush
My hero's wear camouflage.

1GunnerHogan1 I miss Lunada Bay Surfing Joined Jan 2005 Posts 2226 EE Offline WA, USA	Posted: 2/28/2007 8:10:34 AM EST Yep. We love bad news for "Scarebus" up here.
	Liberals...Short on Horsepower...Long on Exhaust!! If guns "kill" people...then spoons made Michael Moore FAT.

warlord

Member

Joined Dec 2000
Posts 29249
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Posted: 2/28/2007 8:31:52 AM EST

[Last Edit: 2/28/2007 8:34:55 AM EST by warlord]

BBC-Airbus confirms 10,000 job cuts

BBC-Planemaker Airbus announces 10,000 job losses across Europe, affecting Germany, France, Britain and Spain.

It is tough enough to build a plane, when all of your manufacturing facilities are in a single country, but try doing that in conjunction with nationalist govts and unions. Nationalist pride gets in the way every time.

Please help a Muslim jihadist meet Allah & 72 virgins, contribute to WWW.AMERICANSNIPERS.ORG.
Hable Usted inglés por favor. Dios bendiga a los Estados Unidos de America
Join the NRA, do it for the children.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - More Airbus Problems

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