European aircraft manufacturer Airbus confirmed today that it will cut 10,000 jobs and sell all or part of six factories, as workers protested and politicians hailed a hard-fought compromise.
Airbus chief executive Louis Gallois said that Airbus will cut 5,000 staff and 5,000 workers contracted from other firms over the next four years.
There were protests at Airbus factories in France at Meaulte and St. Nazaire following the news. St. Nazaire was one of three plants that Gallois confirmed would be sold. The others were Varel and Laupheim in Germany.
He said Meaulte, as well as, Filton in England and Nordenham in Germany were sites where Airbus will look for investors to take partial stakes.
Some 4,300 jobs in France, 3,700 in Germany, 1,600 in Britain and 400 in Spain are expected to go as part of the company's restructuring plan. Cutting 5,000 of its own staff would reduce the Airbus workforce of 55,000 by 9%.
The shake-up comes after a two year delay in delivering the A380 superjumbo put a €5 billion hole in expected earnings at parent firm EADS. It also needs to speed up work on the A350, which is already lagging rival Boeing's development of its 787 model by five years.
