General Motors Europe announced yesterday that it will cut 12,000 jobs on the continent by the end of 2006 in a plan aimed at saving US$617 million per year.
The company said that 90 percent of the cuts would be made in 2005 and that the plan "provides for the majority of the cuts to be in Germany, with a heavy emphasis on managing and engineering."
However, it said negotiations with employee representatives would determine which of its 10 European manufacturing plants are affected.
Negotiations
"The details we must negotiate with our workers councils, beginning today -- and we hope to have an agreement by the end of November," GM Europe spokesman Ruediger Assion said.
GM Europe currently has 62,000 employees.
Separately, German car maker Opel plans to axe 7,000 jobs from a total workforce of 33,000 in Germany, the mass-circulation daily Bild reported yesterday.
However, contrary to the fears recently expressed by unions and politicians, none of Opel's four German production sites would be closed under the restructuring plans, the newspaper said.
Opel's main factory in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt, and the site in Bochum in the heavy-industrialized Ruhr region have been seen as the most likely targets for possible closure.
10,000 to 12,000 jobs
Bild said that General Motors plans to slash 10,000-12,000 from a total 60,000 jobs in Europe.
In addition to Opel, GM Europe comprises Vauxhall in Britain and Saab in Sweden.
The woes at Opel were the reason behind German Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement's cancellation of a planned meeting yesterday with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy at the last minute.
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS