Germany battles EADS over planned job cuts
Published 9:00 pm Sunday, February 4, 2007
Airbus certainly has a lot on its plate lately.
Last year, the European plane maker lost its lead in commercial aircraft orders to the Boeing Co. for the first time in since 2000. And the Toulouse, France-based company saw setback after setback on its A380 superjumbo jet, leading to the exit of executive after executive.
This weekend, the German government threatened to pile on more problems.
The country’s economy minister told a newspaper there that Germany might cancel its defense contracts with Airbus’s parent company, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., if the plan to get Airbus back on track includes cutting too many German jobs. EADS officials are expected to reveal the details of their cost-cutting initiative later this month.
The German government stance puts EADS in a tough spot. The company desperately needs to slash its overhead — the A380 delay cost EADS an estimated $6.2 billion in profits. But the mere suggestion of laying off workers to help turn the company around makes both the French and German governments bristle.
To learn more about Airbus’s workers and woes, check out Spiegel’s story and interactive map http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,464301,00.html.
