Jaguar Land Rover to cut 2,000 jobs globally: company

LONDRES, UNITED KINGDOM - Jaguar Land Rover on Wednesday said that it planned to lay off around 2,000 staff in the next financial year.

The largest car manufacturer in Britain, owned by India's Tata Motors, said in a statement: "We anticipate a net reduction of around 2,000 people from our global salaried workforce in the next financial year."

Jaguar Land Rover has almost 40,000 employees worldwide, according to its 2019-20 annual report. 

It had announced Monday that the Jaguar brand would produce only electric vehicles by 2025 and that Land Rover would have its first fully-electric vehicle in 2024.

The car maker said it would invest £2.5 billion ($3.5 billion, 2.9 billion euros) annually under its 'Reimagine' plan, which aims for its supply chain and operations to become carbon neutral by 2039. 

It had said this plan would also involve substantially reducing its non-manufacturing operations.

The radical overhaul comes under new chief executive Thierry Bollore, who joined in September.

The statement released Wednesday said that a "full review of the Jaguar Land Rover organization is already underway".

It said the organization had already started to brief salaried staff on the job cuts, which do not affect manufacturing staff paid by the hour.

Jaguar Land Rover has plants in the West Midlands area of England as well as facilities in Slovakia, India, China and Brazil.

Its owner Tata Motors is part of the Indian conglomerate Tata Group.

Agence France-Presse

UK retailer Marks and Spencer to axe 7,000 jobs

LONDON - Marks and Spencer, the British retail chain selling clothing and food, is to cut around 7,000 jobs as the coronavirus pandemic keeps shoppers away from its stores, it announced Tuesday.

The job cuts, to be carried out over the next three months, include losses from its central support centre, in regional management and in its UK stores, M&S said in statement.

Agence France-Presse

Indonesia's GoJek latest app to cut jobs as virus takes toll

JAKARTA - Indonesian app giant GoJek said it would cut hundreds of jobs and ditch at-home massage and cleaning services as the global pandemic slashes demand for face-to-face businesses, after Singapore-based rival Grab also announced layoffs.

Starting as a ride-hailing service in 2010, GoJek launched an app 5 years later with a wide range of offerings, including deliveries, takeaway food and financial services, that could be ordered via smartphone.

The company attracted investments from tech giants including Google, Facebook and Tencent.

But on Tuesday it said it would cut 430 posts -- or about 9 percent of its full-time staff -- as it cancels massage, house cleaning and GoFood Festivals, which supplies vending space for food sellers.

"These businesses are dependent on close human interaction, and have seen a significant downturn over the past few months as the COVID-19 pandemic has affected consumer habits," the firm said in a statement.

"These will be the only COVID-19-related layoffs," it added.


However, GoJek said its logistics and grocery delivery businesses had surged since the pandemic hit.

The firm -- which claims some 170 million users in Indonesia and has expanded to other Southeast Asian markets -- employs freelancers for many of its services, including ride-hailing drivers.

It did not respond to requests for comment on how many of its freelance staff would be affected by the cuts. 

Last week, rival Grab announced that it would dismiss 360 employers, or about five percent of its full-time workforce.

In May, US-based ridesharing giant Uber said it was slashing a quarter of its global workforce -- about 3,000 employees -- and trimming investment to survive the financial hit to its business from the disease crisis.

Agence France-Presse

General Electric to cut 10,000 aviation jobs

NEW YORK - General Electric said Monday it would cut an additional 10,000 jobs from its aviation sector as the coronavirus pandemic decimates the industry, forcing companies to cancel orders.

The cuts will be a mix of voluntary departures and layoffs and come after an initial wave of 2,600 job cuts in March, GE said in a statement.

The company aims to reduce its aviation employment base by 25 percent, or some 13,000 employees.

The austerity program, which will affect all geographic zones, is reflective of the rough time the entire aviation sector is going through.

Boeing announced last week that it was cutting 16,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its workforce, in civilian aircraft manufacturing. 

It also heavily reduced production of its long-haul 787 and 777/777X planes. The company has yet to announce a date when it will resume assembly of its flagship 737 MAX aircraft. Airbus has similarly reduced production.

GE is directly affected by these decisions, as it makes plane engines for Boeing and Airbus.

Global air traffic is expected to fall 80 percent during the second quarter compared to February, GE said in a letter to 52,000 employees.

"To protect our business, we have responded with difficult cost-cutting actions over the last two months," CEO David Joyce said in the letter.

"Unfortunately, more is required as we scale the business to the realities of our commercial market."

The job cuts are part of a $3 billion savings plan that will be implemented this year.

In addition, half of the employees in charge of aviation maintenance and repairs are out of work for 3 months.

Hiring has also been frozen and bonuses canceled.

GE, which makes aircraft engines in a joint venture with the French company Safran, CFM, saw revenue fall by 8 percent to $20.52 billion in the first quarter.

The aviation division's revenue plunged 13 percent to $6.9 billion, while its orders were down 14 percent.

The group, which warned at the end of April that the worst was yet to come, has not sought the financial aid that US President Donald Trump has promised to companies in order to protect jobs.

Agence France-Presse