The Volvo Group trucks and engineering business, which in just over a month has slashed 2,850 jobs, said on Nov. 11 it would cut another 900 jobs affecting a unit in Sweden producing heavy engines, gearboxes and driveshafts.
"This will affect 900 people in Sweden," Volvo Group spokesman Maarten Wikforss said, adding that mainly blue collar workers in the Volvo Powertrain division's three Swedish production facilities, including at the company headquarters in Gothenburg, would lose their jobs.
"Our biggest customers are heavy truck and machinery makers, including Volvo Trucks and Volvo Construction Equipment ... When these companies reduce their workforce, the way they are doing now, it obviously affects our production," he explained. "If there are fewer trucks and machines, there is less demand for gearboxes and engines," he added.
Since September 30, Volvo's trucks division has announced a total of 2,000 job cuts in Sweden and Belgium, while its machine and construction equipment arm has laid off 850 people.
A separate business, the beleaguered Volvo car maker, a unit of U.S. auto giant Ford and a big employer in Sweden, has also announced 6,000 job cuts worldwide since June, 3,900 of which were in Sweden.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
