Losses force worldwide cutbacks at Lucent

The cost-cutting announced by its U.S.-based parent company could bite into the Lucent workforce in four cities.
By : Roseanne Gerin

   Lucent Technologies Polska could feel the sting of massive cost-cutting announced last Wednesday by its U.S.-based parent company, a local Lucent official said. The cuts could mean 16,000 redundancies worldwide, or about 13% of its global workforce of 123,000.

   Dorota Niemczynowicz, the spokeswoman for Lucent's Polish operations, said it had not yet been told of any layoffs or outsourcing of jobs by the company's headquarters. The firm employs 1,300 workers in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Bydgoszcz and Gdansk.

   New Jersey-based Lucent Technologies Inc. said it would eliminate 10,000 employees through firings or voluntary redundancies and 6,000 through outsourcing to contract manufacturers as part of its plan to reduce expenses by $2 billion by the end of fiscal year 2001. Lucent said it would slash jobs in its sales and marketing divisions, corporate administration and in certain manufacturing locations as well as eliminate some product lines.

   The news came when the telecom equipment manufacturer reported a loss of $1.58 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2000. The company's revenue dropped to $5.84 billion from $8.07 billion during the same period in the previous year.

   Niemczynowicz said the company's Polish operations expected to receive notice about possible job cuts soon since Lucent's headquarters would notify U.S. employees between now and Feb. 15 and international employees by early March.