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Airbus may extend 35-hour work week: report

Quote:

Sun Feb 25, 1:43 PM ET

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Airbus (EAD.PA) is considering extending its workweek to 40 hours from 35 hours without compensation as part of the European planemaker's restructuring plans, German magazine Focus reported.
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The reported proposal is likely to ring alarm bells in France, where a 35-hour work week was introduced by a Socialist government in 2000 and remains a potentially divisive issue ahead of April-June presidential and legislative elections.

"Management apparently is talking to unions about longer hours: 40 instead of 35 per week are envisaged," Focus reported in its Monday edition.

EADS unit Airbus declined comment and union representatives could not be reached.

Airbus has come up with plans for an estimated 10,000 job cuts and possible sales of factories to overcome delays to its A380 superjumbo and a currency disadvantage against rival Boeing (NYSE:BA - news), but Franco-German disagreements delayed a final deal.

French
President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday that the two countries should share both the consequences of restructuring and the latest technology.

French business leaders have strongly criticized the country's 35-hour work week, saying it has curbed growth and failed to stimulate employment as its authors had hoped.

Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal has promised to review the 35-hour work week with the aim of "reducing negative consequences for workers and employees."

Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy says the 35-hour week should be retained but viewed as a minimum, not a maximum, with people free to work more or longer if they want.

According to the Focus report, Airbus is also considering selling two French plants, Saint Nazaire and Meaulte, and two German plants, Nordenham and Varel, to cut costs.

It remains unclear whether the company would remain a minority shareholder or sell them completely, Focus said.

The magazine said the A320 single-aisle aircraft assembly would be moved from Toulouse in France to Hamburg in Germany in exchange for Germany dropping demands to assemble the key central section of the future wide-bodied A350.

Airbus is also looking to raise money from sale-and-leaseback programs, selling property and land to investors and leasing them back, Focus said.

No wonder they can't ever get the 380 out. I haven't known what a 35hr work week was like since I was 9yrs old.

French std: 10 years behind and workin' half-days to catch up.

I wonder if they're still going to keep their 5, 10, or however many ridiculous weeks of vacation time a year as well. I want to say it's around 5 but I don't remember.

Well according to my math for those 10,000 people they are laying off that comes to around 2.6 million man hours they could have utilized within 1 year.

I'd love to see a batch of their pilots come fly over here and fly as a freightdog. They could make a reality show about that one lol.

yes it is too easy to make fun of the french. they put a target on their barrets. on the flip side, does anyone know how long a japan work week is?

All of France is in trouble in the employment sector, people work to little, it is impossible to fire people. Many young people graduating university are unemployed because companys dont want to hire people seeing as they cant fire them if they are incompatent.
Lets just hope Germany takes more of the Airbus production over from the frogs. I recently read that Germany took over final assembly from the French. I say the Germans take over the whole operation.
On a side note, the reason Boeing is overtaking Airbus(large aircraft, Airbus still kickin ass with the 320) is that Boeing was able to restructure by laying off thousands, outsourcing work to China. Airbus cant do that, plus they pay there Workers in the Euro, production costs are in the Euro to. Boeing is not doing better because there planes are better... they are doing better because of economic circumstances.
Airbus is still number ONE! All you Boeing suppoters can keep your MADE IN CHINA planes :p

Germans taking over the French...I see a trend developing here. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slice (Post 124544)

Germans taking over the French...I see a trend developing here. :D

Dude, look at the Battle of Agincourt. Not Germans though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linebacker35 (Post 124528)

Actually the new wings ect. are being made in Japan. The reason Boeing is gaining ground is because they went to the best people for the best parts. Airbus just said "we're going to build a plant here and get people to operate it because that country wants us to" meanwhile boeing put out a few contracts and looked through the resumes of other companies to find people that had long experience working in the field. Not saying the airbus guys hired completely incompitent people, but they did let the say of too many people get in the way. Boeing is stepping up because they aren't an oligarchy

damn, 40 hours would look like a vacation to me!

Unions prepare to fight Airbus job cuts

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Airbus unions threatened strikes over job cuts at the troubled planemaker on Tuesday, dampening efforts by European governments to calm the fears of its 55,000 staff on the eve of a key restructuring plan.

The plan to cut 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) in annual costs is expected to trigger job losses and the sale of up to four factories in France and Germany, with jobs in Spain and Britain also at risk.

Industry sources said Airbus was likely to cut 5,000 jobs and axe another 5,000 filled by contractors, respecting a widely trailed target of 10,000 while limiting the impact on its staff.

"We fear it is serious that 10,000 jobs will be lost," European Metalworkers Federation head Peter Scherrer said after a conclave of unions from four countries in Brussels.

Their joint strategy "includes strikes," Scherrer said.

His federation includes Germany's IG Metall union, which is reported to have deep coffers for a challenge against plans that have already triggered demonstrations in Germany.

EADS <EAD.PA> subsidiary Airbus said it would brief unions on Wednesday followed by a news conference at 1400 GMT.

Airbus sold fewer planes than rival Boeing Co <BA.N> for the first time in five years in 2006 after delays to its A380 superjumbo and strategy errors over its mid-sized A350.

It has also been weakened by falls in the dollar.

Observers predicted the planemaker, run by former French railways boss Louis Gallois, would make a maximum effort to ease the headline impact of the cost cuts by balancing the effects between "core" Airbus jobs and outside contractors.

Airbus has 55,000 on its payroll but its 16 European factories include thousands of other workers employed by outside companies but who work full-time on Airbus premises.

"There will be 10,000 job cuts including half from Airbus and half from the outside contractors," an industry source told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

That scenario could explain an upbeat tone from several officials who had previously sharply criticized the plans.

"All the signs suggest it's a good solution in which the Franco-German balance is preserved and as many jobs as possible are saved at the parent company," German Economy Minister Michael Glos told Reuters at a European Union meeting.

FACTORIES VS JOBS

It was less easy to predict where the axe would fall between Airbus's 16 factories, despite an agreement between France and German leaders that the pain should be spread fairly.

Airbus is aiming to sell factories, rather than close them, in order to overhaul its production methods for future models and cut costs while continuing to meet its record order backlog.

Most reports say two plants in France and two in Germany will be sold. But the fact that more of the Airbus factories are in Germany has put pressure on Germany to accept a higher proportion of plant sales if the jobs are split roughly evenly.

Jobs are a major issue especially in France, which is eight weeks away from presidential elections. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said last week Airbus would cut 10,000 jobs but ruled out sackings.

The French government owns 15 percent of EADS and is part of a pact with French and German industrial shareholders.

French Finance Minister Thierry Breton said the Airbus crisis demonstrated the impact of swings in the value of the euro, which has shot up against the dollar and yen since the A380 was designed.

"The first reason for the implementation of this (restructuring) plan stems from the fact that there was a euro-dollar differential that had to be integrated into the cost of production," Breton told reporters at European Union talks.

Rival Boeing outsources part of its work to Japan, prompting some economists to study the extra currency uplift it gets against the strong euro from the yen as well as the dollar.

Power8, first announced last October, calls for annual cost savings of at least 2 billion euros from 2010, 5 billion euros in cash savings by then, and faster development.

Wednesday's announcement is expected to spell out how it achieves all of that, though industry officials and analysts say questions will remain, especially if the Franco-German company opts to tread lightly with French elections just weeks away.

EADS shares closed down 1.8 percent at 25.45 euros, cushioned from a 3 percent fall in the French overall market.