Siemens Denies Outsourcing Jobs

Siemens, Germany's largest engineering company, said on Tuesday it has no "concrete plans" to move 10,000 jobs outside Germany. The company was reacting to reports by the engineering and metal workers union IG Metall, which said Siemens planned to move the jobs -- comprising up 5.9 percent of its domestic workforce -- to low-cost regions such as Eastern Europe and Asia to cut costs. "We won't sit back while one job after another disappears from Germany for competitive reasons,'' Siemens chief executive Heinrich von Pierer said in a statement. The statement added that the Munich-based company aimed to retain jobs in Germany by adopting more flexible working hours and lowering costs. "We have the hope that as many as possible of these endangered jobs can be saved, but all sides must be ready to compromise," von Pierer said. The company, whose products include power turbines, locomotives, mobile network equipment, auto components and medical equipment, employs 417,000 workers, 170,000 of whom are based in Germany.