Siemens chief executive officer tries to calm furore over job cuts

BERLIN/MUNICH — The chief executive of German conglomerate Siemens tried to calm a brewing storm over job cuts on Friday after he let slip at an investor conference in New York that his plan to restructure the company could put up to 11,600 staff at risk. Joe Kaeser unveiled an overhaul earlier this month that removes layers of management by abolishing a corporate structure, along sectoral and regional lines. Pressed to give details on his goal to save 1 billion euros annually through restructuring, he said according to a podcast of the remarks posted on the Siemens website: "We do away with the four sectors; 7,600 people work in sector coordination, coordinating a middle layer that is gone," Kaeser said. "Another 4,000 people were doing a regional cluster analysis, which is not necessary anymore." A union representative in Berlin said: "We are shocked to learn that Joe Kaeser announced in New York that he plans to cut some 11,000 jobs.” The reports sent Siemens into damage control mode with a memo to the company's German staff, reassuring them that no final decisions on cuts had been taken. Siemens employees 360,000 staff, a third of which are based in Germany.