General Motors Europe announced yesterday that it will cut 12,000 jobs on the continent by the end of 2006 in a plan aimed at saving US$617 million per year.
The company said that 90 percent of the cuts would be made in 2005 and that the plan "provides for the majority of the cuts to be in Germany, with a heavy emphasis on managing and engineering."
However, it said negotiations with employee representatives would determine which of its 10 European manufacturing plants are affected.
Negotiations
"The details we must negotiate with our workers councils, beginning today -- and we hope to have an agreement by the end of November," GM Europe spokesman Ruediger Assion said.
GM Europe currently has 62,000 employees.
Separately, German car maker Opel plans to axe 7,000 jobs from a total workforce of 33,000 in Germany, the mass-circulation daily Bild reported yesterday.
However, contrary to the fears recently expressed by unions and politicians, none of Opel's four German production sites would be closed under the restructuring plans, the newspaper said.
Opel's main factory in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt, and the site in Bochum in the heavy-industrialized Ruhr region have been seen as the most likely targets for possible closure.
10,000 to 12,000 jobs
Bild said that General Motors plans to slash 10,000-12,000 from a total 60,000 jobs in Europe.
In addition to Opel, GM Europe comprises Vauxhall in Britain and Saab in Sweden.
The woes at Opel were the reason behind German Economy Minister Wolfgang Clement's cancellation of a planned meeting yesterday with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy at the last minute.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique