Thread ----Nortel Networks to cut 750 jobs in Ottawa, television station reports
OTTAWA (CP) -- Nortel Networks Corp., Canada's dominant high-tech company, is cutting hundreds of jobs in Ottawa and the Toronto area as part of a broader realignment of its global workforce.
An Ottawa TV station reported Wednesday about 750 jobs will be cut at Nortel's Ottawa operations. Meanwhile, a source within the company told The Canadian Press about 100 jobs will be eliminated at Nortel headquarters in Brampton, Ont.
CJOH-TV said the cuts to Nortel's Ottawa operations are part of a plan to focus on high-growth products, particularly in the fibre-optics market, adding that the firm will reduce staff in the extreme voice, hosting solutions and wireless applications division.
"It's going to be a big hit on Ottawa's operations," the source said.
Nortel confirmed some cuts will be made as part of "an ongoing alignment of our workforce" that will leave the employment level "flat" in 2001, compared with last year. However, the company denied speculation that the cuts could cost 5,000 to 10,000 jobs around the world.
The company is expected to outline its latest cuts to employees in Brampton on Thursday.
In recent years, Nortel has cut thousands of jobs as it sold its older telecom manufacturing operations to expand its optical Internet software and research businesses. Still, through acquisitions and other growth, the company employs about 73,000 around the world, including 23,000 in Canada.
The company has added employees over the past few years "so we have the workforce we need to continue to grow," said Tina Warren, a spokeswoman for Nortel in Brampton, Ont.
The workforce level worldwide will be kept flat through attrition, retirement and some job losses, Warren said.
"There is the possibility in low-growth markets that there will be the elimination of jobs," she said. "But most of the change will be through normal attrition and retirement."
Warrens said the cuts are not focused on any particular geographical region.
Nortel, which has seen its stock price battered in recent months over concerns about future growth, releases its fourth-quarter results next week.
The cuts come the same day Nortel signed a $100-million, two-year deal to build a high-speed Internet backbone network in Britain for 186k, the telecom subsidiary of Lattice Group.
Any thoughts ? Are these layoffs in the old legacy systems ?
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