ZURICH: General Electric Co is axing 12,000 jobs at its global power business, the struggling industrial conglomerate's latest effort to shrink itself into a more focused company.The U.S. company launched the cuts to save US$1bil in 2018, saying it expected dwindling demand for fossil fuel power plants to continue. "Traditional power markets including gas and coal have softened," GE said.Rumors of sweeping job cuts were confirmed by labour union sources on Wednesday, with staff in Switzerland and Germany among those badly hit. "This decision was painful but necessary for GE Power to respond to the disruption in the power market, which is driving significantly lower volumes in products and services," said Russell Stokes, head of GE Power. We expect market challenges to continue, but this plan will position us for 2019 and beyond. "We are not going to accept this, and we will fight ... to preserve jobs.

Source: The Star December 07, 2017 14:15 UTC