Bosch to reduce hours for 450 employees due to tough economy

BERLIN (Reuters) – German auto parts supplier Robert Bosch (NS:BOSH) will reduce the hours, and consequently the pay, of 450 employees in Germany from next spring, citing the difficult economic situation, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

Those employees, whose contracts stipulated that they work 38-40 hours a week, will work only 35 hours a week starting March 1, the spokesperson said.

Several locations are affected, primarily in Stuttgart and Gerlingen, said the spokesperson.

The chairman of Bosch, Stefan Hartung, in October told Der Tagesspiegel newspaper that he cannot rule out further job cuts in Germany in addition to the 7,000 it has already announced.

The reduced hours come as a gloom has beset the auto industry that underpins Europe’s largest economy.

In a sign of the troubles, Europe’s largest carmaker, Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p), is demanding a 10% pay cut to slash costs and boost profit to defend market share in the face of cheap competition from China and a drop in European car demand.