Ascom to cut 1,100 jobs worldwide
The Bern-based technology group, Ascom, expects to cut 1,100 jobs from its worldwide operation, with approximately 400 jobs to go in Switzerland. Union officials in Switzerland condemned the cuts which come at a time when the company is showing a profit.
The job losses, announced on Wednesday, come as part of an on-going restructuring programme at the company, which employs a total of 10,000 staff worldwide.
Ascom said in a statement that after discussions with social partners, it was decided that two-thirds of the workforce reduction should take place in the coming four months and the remainder by the end of 2001.
“We will naturally do everything in our power, within the context of the existing social plan, to realise the job cuts in a socially acceptable manner and to keep the number of dismissals to a minimum”, emphasised Ascom’s chief executive, Urs Fischer.
The company said some 800 of the jobs were permanent positions in its Energy Systems, Enterprise Communication and Integrated Services divisions as well as in co-operation. Another 300 jobs are temporary positions. Of the 400 jobs being cut in Switzerland, 100 are temporary posts.
Union officials criticized the move. A spokesman said the decision came at a time when Ascom’s figures were still in the black, and added that the cuts were aimed at improving profits at the expense of the workforce.
The troubled technology group reported a decline in its net income in April, blaming higher marketing and research costs for the disappointing performance.
The company’s net profit for 2000 was down almost a quarter to SFr67 million ($39.5 million) on sales of SFr3.14 billion. Operating income was down to SFr80 million from SFr135 million.
Fischer was named chief executive earlier this year to replace the long-time company head, Hans Ulrich Schroeder.
The changes came after a bitter power struggle between the banker, Ernst Müller-Möhl, and the Hassler Foundation that held a majority stake in Ascom through voting restrictions.
Müller-Möhl died last year when his private plane crashed but his heirs won a long procedural battle for a single share structure, reducing the Hassler foundation’s stake to a minority.
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