Ottawa jobs will be among those affected as telecom equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. announced plans to cut another 3,200 jobs worldwide Wednesday.
Although Ottawa-based Nortel spokeswoman Karen Monaghan said the company isn’t providing a regional breakdown of jobs lost, there will be positions affected in Ottawa.
“It’s a really tough day,” she said.
“Workforce reductions will take place over the coming weeks and months.”
The new reductions are incremental to the 1,800 remaining from a previous announcement.
“There will likely be impact locally,” agreed company spokesman Mohammed Nakhooda. “But the economy is impacting business and we have to align costs to revenues to establish a firmer financial position.”
With about $4.5 billion in long-term debt and $2.4 billion in cash, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Canada last month.
The cuts represent roughly 10 per cent of Nortel’s current workforce of more than 30,000.
The Ottawa location, which represents Nortel‚s entire product range, employs 4,200 people. At the peak of the tech boom in 2000, the company employed more than 90,000 people.
The laid-off employees will not get severance payouts, which the company suspended when it filed for bankruptcy protection last month. The company is also modifying compensation structure to reduce bonuses and cut out its equity-based compensation plans.
WITH FILES FROM REUTERS
