Alcatel to cut 1,000 manager jobs

Franco-American telecoms gear maker Alcatel-Lucent said it plans to cut 1,000 managerial posts from its global workforce will see 198 positions in France eliminated.

Alcatel-Lucent managers in France told a works council meeting on Wednesday that 450 managerial posts would go in North America and 450 in Europe, of which 198 in France, the CFDT union said in a statement.

The company announced the decision to trim its executive ranks on Dec. 12 as part of a strategic plan aimed at cutting cut costs by 750 million euros by the fourth quarter of 2009, but did not say where the cuts would fall.

An Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman said: "I can confirm the figures for France, but we are not making a statement on the other numbers."

According to the CFDT, 1,602 posts are classed as managerial in France, and while France makes up 10 percent of Alcatel-Lucent's workforce, it will bear 20 percent of the job cuts.

Alcatel-Lucent, the No. 3 player worldwide in terms of market share, behind Sweden's Ericsson (ERICb.ST) and Finnish-German joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks [NSN.UL], employs 77,000 worldwide and 11,000 in France.

The company, formed by the merger of Alcatel and Lucent in 2006, saw its share price fall 70 percent in 2008 after a string of profit warnings and last week posted a 5.2 billion euro loss for the year amid a record 4.7 billion euros in depreciations.

Since June, its share price has dropped more than 70 per cent.

Agencies