Airbus announced it considers a possible way to keep its employees and limit job losses. The European manufacturer thinks about the idea to reduce working time in production areas in France for the next two years in order to help the struggling company confine the job cuts.
Donald Fraty, the Head of Human Resources of Airbus, in a letter has allegedly revealed to the company workers that the measure of reducing working time in France would preserve skills with an aim to reach narrow-body plane production rates similar to the pre-pandemic level of 2019 in between 2023 and 2025.
According to the source, the Head of Human Resources announced that the current economic situation in the company led to deeply uncertain prospects for resuming Airbus activities.
Fraty allegedly informed that the company seeks to get a majority of its employees’ agreement on the new measure that opens new ways to lower the number of compulsory redundancies. If the manufacturer gets the consent, the new working time arrangements would come into effect from January 2021.
Guillaume Faury, the CEO of Airbus, speaking to the French radio station RTL earlier in September 2020, said that the business was potentially at risk. The CEO also stepped up warning that pursuing the voluntary redundancies could not be enough if the COVID-19 crisis continues to deepen.
Airbus has repeatedly announced that the company needed to cut a total of 15,000 jobs. This means that the company would be forced to lay off more than 11% of its workforce.
The Head of Human Resources ostensibly said the fight to save the company would continue even after the negotiations ended. The planemaker supposedly expects governmental support by providing contributions for a few projects, including its zero-emissions aircraft.
According to the source, this measure would also help Airbus to reduce redundancies.