E.ON job cuts
June 16, 2009
Officials of the Ver.di union have said that Germany's biggest power company, E.ON, plans to slash 9,000 jobs as a part of efforts to restructure the company.
Sven Berglin of Ver.di, himself a member of E.ON's supervisory board said the cuts would affect 6,000 jobs in Europe and another 3,000 worldwide.
E.ON has around 90,000 employees across Europe. A company spokesperson did not confirm the figures but said the company was in a restructuring process.
"Nothing has been decided yet. We are currently analyzing where and how we can improve our structures. This is indeed likely to affect our employees, but we will try to implement any changes in a socially responsible way," he said.
The changes are part of the company's "perform to win" program aimed at saving 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion).
According to Ver.di, two thirds of the jobs to be cut in Europe will be in Germany. The union has reacted by calling a demonstration on Thursday at the company's headquarters in Duesselfdorf, saying they expect thousands of protesters from Germany and several other European countries.
"That is not acceptable given the billions of euros in profits," Berglin of Ver.di said. E.ON just a posted an 18 percent increase of its fist-quarter net profit.
ai/AFP/dpa
Editor: Jennifer Abramsohn