Unions strike at French Airbus factories
Unions called a strike today at several Airbus factories throughout France as workers also planned demonstrations against the European planemaker’s plan to trim 10,000 jobs, including 1,600 in the UK.
Five unions asked Airbus employees to walk off the job for five hours today and gather in front of the company’s various French factories. A march was also planned in Toulouse, the south-western French city where Airbus is based.
Some 4,300 of the job cuts are planned in France, where the restructuring plan has caused uproar among workers and prompted leading presidential candidates to call for a state bailout.
The plan announced last week seeks to shed 10,000 staff and sell, close or spin off six plants around Europe. The company is struggling to survive the fallout from a two-year delay to its A380 superjumbo and the weaker US dollar.
Employee representatives at three German plants facing an uncertain future said yesterday that work had resumed after walkouts last week.
