Ford to cut 5,000 jobs in Germany
March 15, 2019
US carmaker Ford will shed 5,000 workers in Germany, it announced on Friday.
Ford hopes to save at least $500 million (€441 million) with the measures, according to a letter from executives to employees.
"This is part of a restructuring operation for Ford in Europe that was already announced in January with the goal of getting back being a profitable business," a spokesman said.
The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger daily reported that the job cuts were to be achieved through severance payments for employees up to 49 years of age and early retirement for employees over 50 years of age. The job losses will cover all areas from production to management.
Read more: Germany: 1 in 3 unemployed can't afford a proper meal
Streamlining measures
The company employs about 24,000 people in Germany, mostly in Cologne.
The group's European business is suffering from deep losses and the restructuring process announced in January also envisages potential plant closures.
Earlier this week, German carmaker Volkswagen announced 7,000 job cuts despite operating at a profit.
Read more: VW reports €12 billion profit and plans 22 million electric cars in 10 years
aw/rt (AFP, dpa, Reuters)