Daimler Workers Oppose Reported Zetsche Outsourcing

FORBES, Chris Noon, LONDON ENGLAND- If there's one word that is anathema to unions, it's "outsourcing." Yet, according to a report in Monday's Stuttgarter Zeitung, that's just what DaimlerChrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people ) Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche wants to do with a significant portion of the automaker's accounting jobs.

The company's works council has predictably threatened to veto the plans: "The company is officially considering locations that include those in the Czech Republic and India for some of the company's accounting work," the head of the council, Erich Klemm, was quoted as saying. "We are saying without a balance of interest this simply won't fly," Klemm added.

The council--which claims that Zetsche's plans are part of the biggest restructuring program that there has ever been in the auto sector--argues that the automaker's strategy should not be based on sending work abroad.

DaimlerChrysler top brass, who plan to cut about 6,000 white collar positions worldwide, have apparently been chewing over a social and compensation plan for large-scale administrative restructuring for the last two months. Zetsche, who hopes to save around $1.8 billion per year, apparently wants to cull a fifth of the company's accounting, personnel and strategic planning staff worldwide.