HMR German job cuts deal "not world model"

14 May 1998 15:54  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--The agreement struck between Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR) Deutschland and its works council over job cuts is not necessarily a model for the restructuring of rest of the group worldwide, a spokesman for HMR Deutschland told CNI Thursday.

"This is a solution for only here in Germany," he said. A deal was struck Wednesday in which Hoechst pledged to reduce the number of job cuts from 600 to 300. The programme will be carried out without any compulsory redundancies until 2002. Exceptions may be made in "financial emergencies" but HMR Deutschland has ruled out the possibility of this occurring.

In addition, the company will invest DM110m ($61.8m) a year in existing sites and will offer 100 training places each year. The deal will reduce the group's payroll from the current level of 6650 to 5900. Sale of the bulk penicillin business will account for 450 of the jobs.

The agreement has been hailed as a victory for the workforce by works council president Arnold Weber, who said it would not have happened without employee protests. He said HMR Deutschland has conceded that cutting 600 jobs in Frankfurt "did not make sense" and that the annual cost reduction target of DM85m could be met "in other ways".

While Weber remarked that HMR Germany has shown more sensitivity to employee concerns than global management, Ralf Sikorski of the chemical union IG BCE suggested that the pact could serve as a model for the rest of the group.

In January, HMR announced a DM460m cost-cutting programme was intended to realise more than 1700 research and development job losses worldwide.

By: Bill Macdonald
+44 208 652 3214

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