As part of its comprehensive restructuring plan, French-American telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent is slashing 10,000 jobs over the next two years the company announced in a press release.
"All geographic areas where Alcatel-Lucent operates will contribute (to the job cuts)" the company said in a statement.
The areas include 4,100 positions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; 3,800 positions will be eliminated in the Asia-Pacific region, and 2,100 in America. Another 5,000 people could find themselves out of work depending on how many new hires the company brings on.
With the plan, the company is striving to reduce the company's fixed cost by 15 percent by the end of the 2015. The amount equals one billion euros or $1.3 billion.
"(The previous restructuring plans) were not sufficient for resolving the problems of the group," Alcatel-Lucent's new chief executive Michel Combes told newspaper French daily Le Monde The New York Times reported."(The new plan) aims precisely at restoring industrial ambition. Inside the company, I think people understand that if I have to make difficult choices, it's because I believe in the future of Alcatel-Lucent."
Next year, 900 jobs are expected to be cut the release reported. These will largely be in the support, administration, and sales departments. Nine-hundred other employees face "internal mobility" or transfers to partners and redeployments by 2015.
Despite the forthcoming layoffs, Alcatel-Lucent also plans to recruit for 200 engineers and technicians who have the skills to adapt to its news plan. In France, where the labor code discourages layoffs, another 900 employees face "internal mobility" or transfers to partners and redeployments" by 2015.
"We launched The Shift Plan in June to give Alcatel-Lucent an industrially sustainable future. The strategic choices we made have been validated by our customers," Combes said in a statement. "To carry out this plan we must make difficult decisions and we will make them with open and transparent dialogue with our employees and their representatives. The Shift Plan is about the company regaining control of its destiny."
