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 US company launched the cuts to save US$1 billion in 2018, saying it expected dwindling demand for fossil fuel power plants to continue. Rumours 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. Hardly any new power station projects had been commissioned in Germany in recent years, GE said.

Source: New Strait Times December 07, 2017 13:30 UTC