Technology: Siemens to confirm loss of 17,000 jobs

Siemens, Europe's biggest technology group, faces a strike threat from German unions when it confirms this week it is to cut more than 17,000 jobs globally. Peter Löscher, chief executive, is due tomorrow to announce a 4% cut among the company's 435,000 employees, including 6,400 job losses in Germany, in a move to make the group leaner in the face of the economic downturn. The job losses, designed to be achieved through voluntary redundancies, are the main element of Löscher's drive to cut overhead costs by €1.2bn (£1bn) by 2010, while catching up and, eventually, overtake GE in America. Some union leaders, who had expected 10,000 job losses, have already threatened industrial action over the scale of the cuts. The losses are supposed to be mainly among administrative staff but unions fear industrial employees will also be... [read full story]