Airbus to Shed 10,000 Staffers

Airbus comparison - click to enlarge

Associated Press | PARIS | 03.01.07, 5:53 AM ET - - EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot on Thursday called for Airbus to be free of "political interference" after a crisis at the European plane maker culminated in plans to pare 10,000 jobs.

"We are paying the high price of bad governance, with the involvement of several governments, instead of having confidence in the company," Barrot said on Europe-1 radio.

Airbus needs a "good company head," he said, "without political interference which should not take place."

The French state holds a 15 percent stake in Airbus' parent company, EADS, and Paris-based Lagardere SCA holds another 7.5 percent. Germany's DaimlerChrysler AG (nyse: DCX - news - people ) has a 22.5 percent share of voting rights. While Berlin has no direct stake in EADS, it leans heavily on decision-making as its largest single defense customer.

Airbus, steadily losing its market lead to Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) Co., unveiled drastic plans Wednesday to shed 10,000 staffers, sell off manufacturing sites and outsource more work to external suppliers.

In a second straight day of labor action, about 1,000 workers gathered Thursday for a protest at the Airbus plant at Laupheim, in southwestern Germany, the IG Metall union said.

"Work is at a standstill at the plant," one of two in Germany that faces being sold or closed, union spokesman Kai Bliesener said. A total of six Airbus plants are to be closed or sold off.

Airbus is struggling to survive the crippling fallout from a two-year delay to its A380 superjumbo and the weaker U.S. dollar - which is planes are priced in - and has followed similar job cut plans announced by Boeing in recent years.

Over four years, Airbus said it plans to shed 4,300 jobs in France, 3,700 in Germany, 1,600 in Britain and 400 in Spain - with roughly half the cuts coming from the 57,000-strong Airbus work force and the rest from subcontractors, who currently employ a further 30,000 staff.