Union IG Metall said Tuesday it had agreed with Siemens AG and the company's works council on some of the ground rules for talks surrounding the conglomerate's planned restructuring in Germany.
IG Metall said in a statement that they agreed that there should be no outright layoffs in Germany, and no closure or transfer of Siemens sites until at least September 30, 2010.
The company had indicated in the past it could make the planned reductions in German staff through measures including attrition.
Earlier this month, Siemens said it would cut 16,750 jobs, or about 4.2 percent of its global work force _ mostly administrative-related positions _ to streamline its operations in the face of a slowing economy.
The Munich-based maker of products ranging from light bulbs and medical equipment to high-speed trains and power turbines said that the cuts included restructuring projects at its various units. Worldwide, the company employs approximately 400,000 people.
Also earlier this month, company officials said Siemens planned to reduce the 2,300 managers in Germany by about 8 percent, and the number of middle-level managers by about 4 percent from the current 23,000. The percentage of non-manager jobs to be cut from its 100,000-person German work force is about 3 percent.
"The varied protests from employees, the works council and IG Metall brought about change," said IG Metall Chairman Berthold Huber.
"Siemens fulfilled our most important demand with the guarantee that there will be no outright layoffs through the restructuring."
The statement said the ground rules agreement stipulated that Siemens would back away from its plans to sell its Industrie Montage Services, an industrial machinery installation business. Instead the division will remain part of the company and possibly expand.
Likewise, Siemens' mobility division, which makes transportation systems such as railways, roads and airport runways, would also remain "a strategic element" of the company, and German locations wouldn't be closed, though that division would see a larger restructuring of jobs than other divisions.
Also, planned restructuring actions at IT Solutions and Services would be halted and undergo a further review, the statement said.
The statement said management and the works council had agreed to finalize points in the arrangement by Aug. 15, though difficult negotiations between the parties are still expected. The works council is expected to meet at the end of August and advise of its progress.
Shares of Siemens closed down less than 1 percent to 73.97 euros ($117.36) in Frankfurt.
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