Workers protest EADS restructuring

More than 20,000 EADS workers at 30 locations took to the streets in Germany on Thursday to protest restructuring plans they fear could cost thousands of jobs. Protests sites included the company's Airbus plant near Hamburg and the Eurofighter plant in Manching. EADS is planning to combine its defense and space subsidiaries next year and might sell some operations. It has 140,000 workers worldwide, including 50,000 in Germany. EADS wants to streamline the collection of German, French and Spanish businesses that created it in 2000. The reorganization follows the company's decision this year to scrap a decades-old Franco-German ownership pact to reduce government interference and give management more freedom to reshape the group. (Source: Reuters, 11/28/13) Gulf Coast note: Airbus is building an A320 assembly line in Mobile, Ala. Previous