Siemens blasted over job cuts

Martin Schulz, the leader of Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats, on Friday blasted Siemens’s plans to cut 6,900 jobs as “antisocial”.

Martin Schulz, the leader of Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), on Friday blasted Siemens’s plans to cut 6,900 jobs as “antisocial”, his latest salvo in an escalating public dispute with Siemens CE Joe Kaeser.

Kaeser had responded to criticism from Schulz in an open letter published by the Handelsblatt newspaper on Thursday, saying his use of “populist and aggressive slogans” could aid the company’s competition.

Schulz, whose party agreed on Friday to enter talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives about renewing its outgoing coalition government, said he had read Kaeser’s letter but did not plan to respond in kind.

“I’m not going to write an open letter, but I am going to repeat what I said — a company that reports profit of €6.3bn and then fires 6,900 people is acting antisocially and not socially,” he told the SPD’s youth wing at a conference in the western city of Saarbruecken.

Siemens last week said it would cut close to 2% of its global workforce, with about half the cuts to be made in Germany. The plans have triggered protests by thousands of workers at various sites in Germany.

Schulz has suggested before that the German government could respond to the job cuts by scaling back orders for Siemens, a big government contractor.

In his letter, Kaeser said Siemens paid €20bn in taxes and social security contributions, according to Handelsblatt.

Critics said Siemens’ job cuts would increase unemployment in economically challenged parts of former East Germany and could bolster support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Lothar de Maiziere, the last prime minister of East Germany and former deputy leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, told the RND newspaper chain that Siemens was motivated purely by “despicable profit” and had no interest in its social responsibilities. He said the firm was taking advantage of the crisis in Germany and the state of Saxony, where the AfD overtook the Christian Democratic Union of Germany to become the strongest party.

“Frustration leads to extremism and migration [out of the region]. So it is no surprise the AfD is making such strong gains in the east,” he said.

A COMPANY THAT REPORTS PROFITS OF €6.3BN AND THEN FIRES 6,900 PEOPLE IS ACTING ANTISOCIALLY