Wacker Chemie has reached an agreement with employee representatives on the details of the job cuts planned since the fall. The chemical company announced on Friday that it had agreed on a socially responsible plan to cut around 1,600 jobs in Germany.
The job cuts are to be implemented via a voluntary program with partial retirement arrangements and termination agreements. In addition, a four percent reduction in working hours and salary has been agreed for all employees in Germany until 2028 as a "solidarity contribution". This is intended to avoid compulsory redundancies.
The plan is to cut 1,300 jobs at the world's largest Wacker site in Burghausen, 200 jobs in Nünchritz in Saxony, 60 jobs at the company's headquarters in Munich and a total of 50 jobs at other sites in Germany. At the end of March, Wacker Chemie employed almost 16,200 people worldwide, around 10,600 of them in Germany.
The MDax-listed company initiated the cost-cutting program due to a long-lasting downturn in the industry. In the end, the annual costs are expected to be more than 300 million euros lower.
