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Airbus jobs are outbound

Stephen Beard Mar 1, 2007
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Airbus jobs are outbound

Stephen Beard Mar 1, 2007
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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Labor unions representing Airbus workers at factories in France and Germany are threatening further work stoppages. There were walkouts yesterday in protest over the loss of thousands of jobs under the company’s restructuring. From London, Stephen Beard reports.


STEPHEN BEARD: The unions are right to worry say the analysts. Airbus is planning to cut 10,000 jobs and more seem certain to go in the future.

The company cannot afford to have the bulk of its labor costs in euros while much of its revenue is in dollars.

The company wants to shift more of its work outside Europe. That’s going to happen anyway, says Kieran Daly of Air Transport Intelligence. More and more of Airbus customers are demanding a share of the manufacturing.

KIERAN DALY: Increasingly that work is going to go to the countries where the big airplane market is and that is going to be China, eventually Russia, India to some extent.

Airbus’ European workforce will come under additional pressure. The company says it wants to follow Boeing’s example and outsource more of its component manufacturing.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.

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