Vienna - German industrial giant Siemens is set to cut more than 1,000 jobs in software and metals engineering subsidiaries in Austria, the firm said Monday. Siemens was planning to shed some 850 staff in its Austrian software branch until the end of September, the local worker's council said.
A spokesman in Vienna confirmed this order of magnitude, corresponding to about half of the unit's employees, but said management would seek socially responsible solutions. "Dismissals are the last resort," the spokesman said.
Siemens VAI, which specializes in metals engineering and plant-building, announced Monday it would shed 200 of its 1,500 employees in Linz by the end of next year.
VAI chief executive Richard Pfeiffer said the decision was due to lower demand, with orders down by nearly 40 percent, according to Austrian press agency APA.
Siemens' IT business has been plagued by low returns. Worker representatives in Germany were able to avert large-scale layoffs last year. A company spokesman in Munich said there were currently no such plans for Germany.
