Paris, Dec 7 (AFP) Embattled industrial giant GeneralElectric announced today it would cut approximately 12,000blue collar and white collar jobs in its GE Power unit, morethan a fifth of the total, in a bid to cut costs.
"The headcount reductions, combined with actions takenpreviously in 2017, will position GE Power to reach itsannounced target of USD 1 billion in structural costreductions in 2018," the company said in a statement.
Newly-installed CEO John Flannery last month announced amassive restructuring plan including thousands of job cuts andsales of some business units as he attempted to halt a slidein GE's profitability and the company's share price.
GE plans to reduce overall structural costs by USD 3.5billion in 2017 and 2018 and sell around USD 20 billion inassets.
It said it was "right-sizing" the GE Power business,which has made the equipment that produces one-third of theworld's electricity, given difficulties in the power marketworldwide as demand in gas and coal have softened amid therise of renewables.
"This decision was painful but necessary for GE Power torespond to the disruption in the power market, which isdriving significantly lower volumes in products and services,"GE Power chief executive Russell Stokes said in a statement.
"We expect market challenges to continue, but this planwill position us for 2019 and beyond," he added.
Stokes said GE Power remained a strong business at itscore, noting an order backlog of USD 99 billion.
GE Power is GE's largest industrial business, having madeapproximately USD 27 billion in sales last year and employing55,000 in more than 150 countries. (AFP)CPS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.