Black Monday as struggling firms axe 69,000 jobs

Published on Monday 26 January 2009 21:05

MORE than 69,000 job losses were announced yesterday as companies in the United States and Europe shed staff to try to ride out the global financial crisis.

The blue-chip firms Pfizer and Caterpillar announced the largest cuts – 19,500 and 17,000 respectively. The Dutch banking and insurance group ING plans to axe 7,000 jobs to save $1.3 billion (930 million) this year, while Philips Electronics is to cull 6,000 jobs after reporting its first loss since 2003.

ING said its wholesale banking office in Edinburgh was unlikely to be affected. A Philips spokeswoman was unable to indicate which of its UK operations would be hit.

Royal Bank of Scotland announced 750 job cuts at its Irish unit, Ulster Bank.

In a body blow for UK manufacturing, Corus, Europe's second-biggest steel maker, confirmed reports that it was shedding 3,500 jobs worldwide, 2,500 of them in Britain. It said "a dramatic drop in orders" was forcing it to close its site in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, with the loss of 80 jobs.

Corus is also mothballing a mill in South Wales, carrying out "extensive restructuring" at its Rotherham plant in Yorkshire and closing five smaller sites in England.

Michael Leahy, general secretary of the Community union, which represents Corus staff, said: "This will have a knock-on effect for thousands in steel communities across the UK."

Elsewhere, administrators were appointed to the shoe chains Barratts and PriceLess, which have 5,450 staff, while 95 job losses were announced at Land of Leather, which went into administration earlier this month. Meanwhile, 36 branches of the struggling children's wear chain Adams were closed yesterday with the loss of 267 jobs.

In the US, the mobile phone service provider Sprint Nextel is to reduce staff by 8,000, or 14 per cent, and Home Depot, a DIY retailer, said it was to cut 7,000 jobs.

Analysts yesterday warned the outlook could get bleaker as the recession takes hold.

Professor Brian Ashcroft, of the Fraser of Allander Institute at Strathclyde University, said: "We will probably see slews of announcements like this for the next few months."

The Scottish Government said it would do all it could to support people affected by job losses, adding: "The Scottish Funding Council has agreed to allocate 7 million to enable colleges to support individuals and businesses affected by the economic downturn."