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Siemens announces 4,200 job cuts

3,500 UK IT staff face uncertain future

Siemens has announced the cull of 4200 jobs worldwide from its IT business.

The company said that 2000 of the job cuts will be in Germany, but did not provide a breakdown for the UK. The cuts will be made by the autumn of 2011.

A spokesperson for the company said that around 3500 workers are employed in the Siemens IT Solutions and Services (SIS) division in the UK. The company employs around 35,000 people in its IT business worldwide.

In a statement, Siemens said it would "exhaust all possibilities for voluntary measures" when making the job cuts.

"Measures will include, for example, the termination of employment contracts by mutual consent or the non-renewal of temporary contracts," the company said in a statement. It added that staff consultations will start immediately.

Siemens also announced that it would invest "more than 500 million" by 2012 into SIS, which it plans to turn into a separate business entity by October. The company said that the SIS organisation will be "considerably simpler" in the future.

Siemens' IT division currently comprises seven business units. However, the simplified structure means that SIS will comprise IT outsourcing and a solutions business that will combine IT systems integration services with industry-related IT solutions, such as those for the company's Energy, Industry and Healthcare sectors.

A spokesperson for Siemens said that she did not know what the effect would be on Siemens' work at the BBC, one of its largest UK contracts. The results of a ballot on strike action by BBC IT service contractors employed by Siemens is expected tomorrow.

In its latest financial results, Siemens reported that cost-cutting initiatives had helped improve its profits. Its Q4 2009 results showed a year-on-year profit increase of 24 percent to 1.53 billion (£1.36 billion).

Siemens has so far cut 23,000 jobs across all its business divisions.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: BBC, Siemens
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