Airbus announces plans to cut 15,000 jobs, including 5,000 in France

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Airbus announced this Tuesday, June 30, the reduction of "approximately 15,000 jobs", or 11% of its workforce worldwide by the summer of 2021, without excluding dry layoffs, in order to "resize its activity in the 'commercial aviation' in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

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In total, around 5,100 positions will be eliminated in Germany, 5,000 in France, 1,700 in the United Kingdom, 900 in Spain and 1,300 on the group's other sites around the world, Airbus said on Tuesday, June 30 a statement. Part of these redundancies affect the French subsidiary of Airbus Stelia Aerospace and the German Premium Aerotec.

"  Although forced measures cannot be excluded at this stage, Airbus will work with its social partners to limit the impact of this plan by relying on all available social measures, including voluntary departures, early retirement measures , as well as long-term partial unemployment for the activities which lend themselves to it  ”, affirms the manufacturer who intends to conclude in 2020 the discussions with the unions.

The social plan aims to cut 14,931 jobs, including 4,952 in France (3,488 in the commercial aircraft sector and 1,464 at Stelia Aerospace), according to the CFE-CGC union for which "  no forced departure of group employees can to be considered  . "

Bercy looks gray

Shortly after this announcement, the French Ministry of Economy deemed  the number of job cuts announced by Airbus "  excessive " on Tuesday. "  We expect Airbus to fully use the instruments put in place by the government to reduce the number of layoffs  ," said Bercy in a statement sent to AFP. “  The aeronautics sector is facing a massive, brutal and lasting shock. It is highly likely that the recovery will be gradual. We never hid it. We even anticipated it with the implementation of a plan of 15 billion euros to support the sector  ”, continues the ministry. "  However, the figure of job cuts announced by Airbus is excessive,  " according to the same source.

"  Public aid is not there to finance layoffs,  " protested the CFE-CGC in a statement this evening. This crisis is cyclical, it is necessary to reduce the number of departures or risk running a “  serious risk  ” for the future warns Force Ouvrière, the first union in the group which ensures that it will negotiate without considering the call to strike , for the moment.

The industry's most serious crisis

Airbus, which cut its production rates in April by more than a third to cope with a collapsed air transport market, is "  facing the most serious crisis this sector has ever known  ", said said Airbus executive chairman Guillaume Faury.

The job cuts affect the commercial aviation branch, the largest in the group and do not concern the Airbus helicopter division or the Defense and Space branch. Faced with a difficult market, the latter had already announced in February a restructuring plan providing for 2,665 job cuts.

(With AFP)

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