Unions urge Airbus to slow down restructuring plans

French unions and regional leaders urged Airbus on Thursday to step back from a Big Bang restructuring as workers across Europe waited for a factory-by-factory breakdown of 15,000 job cuts brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. The battle over the scale and timing of cuts heated up as Air France staff also waited for confirmation of 7,500 expected cuts in French aviation's worst week for decades. Airbus unveiled the cuts on Tuesday, with France and Germany bearing the brunt of the restructuring with around 5,000 cuts each, while Britain is set to lose 1,700 jobs and Spain 900. It has said it has no plans to close its dozen or so manufacturing sites spread across its four core nations but began detailing reductions at each plant in talks on Thursday. "Nobody has been spared," said CFE-CGC union official Francoise Vallin outside Airbus headquarters in Toulouse. Airbus unions and leaders are at odds over whether the health crisis that restricted air travel and crippled airlines is a temporary one or the sign of more structural problems.<br/>