ZURICH (Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE.N)
announced on Thursday it was axing 12,000 jobs at its global power business as
the struggling industrial conglomerate responds to dwindling demand for fossil
fuel power plants.
The logo of General Electric is seen
at its plant in Baden, Switzerland November 15, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd
Wiegmann
The U.S. company launched the cuts to save $1
billion in 2018, saying it expected current difficulties in the sector to
continue.
“Traditional power markets including gas and
coal have softened,” GE said.
Rumors of sweeping job
cuts were confirmed by labor union sources on Wednesday, with staff in
Switzerland and Germany among those badly hit.
“This
decision was painful but necessary for GE Power to respond to the disruption in
the power market, which is driving significantly lower volumes in products and
services,” said Russell Stokes, head of GE Power.
“Power
will remain a work in progress in 2018. We expect market challenges to continue,
but this plan will position us for 2019 and beyond.”
A
third of the company’s Swiss workforce face layoffs, while 16 percent of its
staff in Germany are also likely to be axed in the shake
up.
GE said it had begun talks with labor leaders about
the steps.
Demand for new thermal power plants
dramatically dropped in all rich countries, GE said, while traditional utility
customers have reduced their investments due to market deterioration and
uncertainty about future climate policy measures.
Hardly
any new power station projects had been commissioned in Germany in recent years,
GE said. Heightened Asian competition had also increased price
pressures.
Last month, General Electric CEO John
Flannery outlined plans to reduce the manufacturing footprint of GE’s power
business to respond to a sharp fall in demand for fossil fuel power equipment.
GE had not specified how many jobs would be cut or
where.
GE rival Siemens (SIEGn.DE) is cutting about
6,900 jobs, or close to 2 percent of its global workforce, mainly at its power
and gas division, which has been hit by the rapid growth of
renewables.
Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Michael
Shields
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust
Principles.
原文地址：https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge-jobs/general-electric-to-cut-12000-jobs-in-power-business-revamp-idUSKBN1E11GU
