Thomson lays off workers

Thomson lays off workers

SINGAPORE (AFP): France's Thomson Consumer Electronics said it was laying off 900 employees from a Singapore plant manufacturing televisions.

Thomson said in a statement that it was redistributing the TV manufacturing operations to another local plant and to facilities in Bangkok and Indonesia's Batam island.

"Seven hundred will be retrenched in a month's time. The others will be laid off in phases," a company spokesman told AFP.

Thomson said that it would continue using Singapore as the company's regional headquarters to provide key support services for facilities elsewhere in Asia.

Didier Trutt, Thomson general manager for TV manufacturing in Asia, said it made "good economic sense" to expand the company's manufacturing operations in Indonesia and Thailand while using Singapore as a regional base.