Unions are to hold an urgent meeting with EDF Energy executives amid speculation that the company wants to cut more than 2,000 jobs in Britain. Concern among staff escalated yesterday after reports in France that EDF, the state-run giant that owns EDF Energy, is planning 6,000 redundancies worldwide. There are fears that the company is intending to cut up to 2,500 jobs in retail operations in Britain over the next few years through natural attrition. Eamon O’Hearn Large, national officer for the GMB union, said: “A number of employees have expressed concern about the figures being bandied around and we are extremely concerned and seeking urgent clarification.” Les Echos, the financial daily, said that the company wanted to reduce its worldwide workforce from 160,000 to 154,000 by 2019, mainly affecting EDF Energy, the British division that boasts six million customers and 15,000 employees. EDF, which is building the next generation of Britain’s nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset, said on Thursday that it would trim 5 per cent of its 67,000 posts in France by 2018 by not replacing workers who retired or left. The reports come as EDF plans to modernise its ageing nuclear power stations in France. The original cost estimate was €55 billion, but that was cut to €51 this week. The company is also engaged in tense talks over its plans to buy the reactor unit of Areva, the crisis-torn state-run French nuclear company, for about €2 billion. Critics fear that the deal will saddle EDF with Areva’s widely criticised new EPR reactors. One, at Olkiluoto in Finland, was supposed to be completed in 2009, but will not come on stream until 2018, at the earliest. A second, in France, was meant to be operational in 2012 at an overall construction cost of €3.3 billion. It will now enter service in 2018 at a cost of €10.5 billion — assuming that all goes to plan. David Cameron has ordered the same model for Britain.
Times 23rd Jan 2016 read more »
A new report reveals the most praised and criticised global brands when it comes to campaigns waged against them by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). An annual report compiled by SIGWATCH, a private research firm, showed that Shell, Monsanto – a US multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology firm – and the World Bank were the most heavily criticized by NGOs. Volkswagen – thanks to the ‘dieselgate’ scandal; Adani, an Indian multinational conglomerate dealing in resources and energy; along with French energy company, EDF, joined the global 20 most criticised corporations for the first time.
Business Tech 21st Jan 2016 read more »