Saturday, October 11, 2008
Volvo to axe a quarter of workforce
Volvo is to cut another 4,000 jobs in Sweden and overseas in response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the car industry.
The company announced 2,000 job cuts in June, and the latest cuts bring the total to 6,000, or about one-quarter of its global headcount before it began restructuring.
"The unstable economic environment has resulted in a very unpredictable situation, and the downturn in the global car industry is more drastic than expected," Stephen Odell, Volvo's chief executive, said in a statement.
The bulk of the blue-collar job cuts are in Sweden, where Volvo makes large vehicles - hit hardest by higher petrol prices and the credit crunch. The carmaker also builds smaller vehicles at a second plant in Belgium.
Volvo said the cuts would affect 2,000 blue-collar employees and 700 white-collar employees in Sweden. Abroad, another 600 employees would be made redundant and about 700 consultants would have their contracts terminated. Volvo did not say where the it planned to cut the jobs outside of Sweden.
Volvo said that it would negotiate the layoffs, together with those announced in the previous restructuring plan, and that its 'new organisation' would be in place by the end of the year.
DATED: 11.10.08
FEED: FT
