Shock for Siemens workers as 80 jobs are cut

Jun 16 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

SIEMENS workers in the North East face redundancies as the company looks to axe around 80 jobs.

Employees at the Hebburn site in South Tyneside are facing an uncertain future after being sent home early yesterday with letters asking for voluntary redundancies.

The German company announced last year that it was seeking to cut 4% of its massive global workforce of 430,000, but it was hoped that the North East would largely escape the losses.

Most of the jobs were expected to be axed from its administrative operations such as finance and IT, while most of its operations in the region are in other fields.

However, bosses say the global economic downturn has forced them to review this situation, as there has been a shortfall in orders.

There are around 150 employees in the affected Transmission and Distribution department, one of four sites across the UK which is being hit by redundancies. Siemens is looking to lose a total of around 100 positions, with around 80 of those in Hebburn.