NEW YORK: Companies forecast almost 70,000 job cuts in a single day as the rampant crisis born in the banking sector struck workers in factories and offices across the globe yesterday.
Shortly after US President Barack Obama warned of a downturn that could become “dramatically worse,” several huge companies announced a fresh avalanche of cuts.
In New York, construction equipment giant Caterpillar said it planned 20,000 job cuts worldwide to cope with plunging sales and US telecom operator Sprint Nextel announced 8,000 cuts — 14 percent of its staff.
Japan’s top 12 automakers expect to cut a total of 25,000 jobs between now and the end of March to cope with an industry slump, a survey by Jiji Press concluded yesterday.
Dutch banking and insurance group ING announced 7,000 job cuts and a deal for the Dutch state to assume 80 percent of the risk on a 27.7-billion euro portfolio of troubled assets.
Dutch electronics giant Philips said it would eliminate 6,000 jobs.
The announcements by the two Dutch companies came ahead of confirmation that Europe’s second-biggest steelmaker, Indian-owned Corus, said it would cut more than 3,500 jobs around the world, most of them in Britain.
Workers arriving early Monday were gloomy about their prospects.
“People feel gutted. I have already had to take a 10 percent pay cut,” said 45-year-old Douglas Mayhill, a worker at a Corus plant in Port Talbot, southern Wales.
“I was told on Friday I have a choice — either accept a 10 percent pay cut or take redundancy — that is no choice.”