Alcatel-Lucent's plan to cut 16,500 jobs is getting intense industrial and political scrutiny as European unions and governments fight the cuts. Unions in France leaked news of 400 job cuts (later confirmed by the company) while in Germany there are reports of Nuremberg unions resisting proposed cuts of 270 from one of Alcatel's biggest German plants. German unions also vowed to resist a further 450 cuts mooted for the Stuttgart plant. In France the government has heavily lobbied Alcatel to minimize the cuts and has successfully persuaded Alcatel to keep a major R&D facility in France.
The cuts are part of an integration plan to cut 16,500 jobs from the joint operations of the European based Alcatel and the U.S. vendor Lucent. The job cuts come as the mega-vendor struggles to lift its share price from a five year low. The share price has fallen 60 percent over the last six months with market concerns over the complex merger and the struggling telecom sector.
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