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Stockholm, Sweden (AHN) – The world’s biggest manufacturer of mobile network equipment announced on Monday that its chairman, Michael Treschow, will resign next year or in 2012.

Telefon AB LM Ericsson said Treschow has informed the company’s nomination committee that he will step down from the board within two years. The committee, which is appointed by the largest owners, will propose a new chairman during the annual general meeting in 2011 or the following year.

“It is an exciting future ahead of Ericsson, but taking into account its strong market and financial position, it is now the right time to hand over to a successor after nine years in this position,” Treschow said in a statement.

Treschow, 67, was appointed to his post in 2002. He steeredm Ericsson through industry consolidation, leading the Stockholm-based company when it acquired Redback Networks in 2007 and Nortel’s wireless, multi service switch business earlier this year.

Treschow is currently also chairman of the board of Unilever PLC. He was previously president and chief executive of Electrolux and of Atlas Copco.

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Basel, Switzerland (AHN) – Pharmaceutical company Roche announced a major restructuring on Wednesday that would cut 6 percent of its global work force.

The Swiss company is removing 4,800 positions over a two-year period starting next year. The initiative, called Operation Excellence, is expected to save 1.8 billion Swiss francs ($1.8 billion) in 2011, and 2.4 billion Swiss francs annually thereafter.

Most of the job cuts are in manufacturing and sales and marketing. Together with the workforce reduction, the pharmaceutical giant will transfer about 800 jobs internally and 700 to “third parties,” putting the number of affected jobs at 6,300.

Operations in California will be reorganized, and Roche will sell its sites in Florence, SC, and Boulder, CO.

The transfers and cuts in the United States will affect 3,550 American workers.

Roche, which produces Tamiflu, Valium and Xenical, reported a 7 percent decline in third quarter sales last month.

“This is a comprehensive, focused initiative to reinforce Roche’s long-term innovation capability in the face of increased price pressures and a more challenging market environment,” chief executive Severin Schwan said in a statement.

“These measures are necessary to ensure sustained success of the company,” Schwan added. “We will make every effort to find socially responsible solutions for the employees affected.”

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Basel, Switzerland (AHN) – Pharmaceutical company Roche announced a major restructuring on Wednesday that would cut 6 percent of its global work force.

The Swiss company is removing 4,800 positions over a two-year period starting next year. The initiative, called Operation Excellence, is expected to save 1.8 billion Swiss francs ($1.8 billion) in 2011, and 2.4 billion Swiss francs annually thereafter.

Most of the job cuts are in manufacturing and sales and marketing. Together with the workforce reduction, the pharmaceutical giant will transfer about 800 jobs internally and 700 to “third parties,” putting the number of affected jobs at 6,300.

Operations in California will be reorganized, and Roche will sell its sites in Florence, SC, and Boulder, CO.

The transfers and cuts in the United States will affect 3,550 American workers.

Roche, which produces Tamiflu, Valium and Xenical, reported a 7 percent decline in third quarter sales last month.

“This is a comprehensive, focused initiative to reinforce Roche’s long-term innovation capability in the face of increased price pressures and a more challenging market environment,” chief executive Severin Schwan said in a statement.

“These measures are necessary to ensure sustained success of the company,” Schwan added. “We will make every effort to find socially responsible solutions for the employees affected.”

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Sixteen Chinese workers sub-contracted to build cellphone company Cell C’s high-speed 4G network were detained in Durban for allegedly having invalid work permits, the home affairs department said on Sunday.

“We inspected 16 work permits at the ZTE Corporation’s premises in Durban on Thursday, after receiving a complaint from someone about the validity of permits for workers in from China,” Home Affairs Inspectorate spokesman Modiri Matthews told Sapa.

“We detained 16 people for further investigation… our system has to be checked and investigations are continuing… no charges or arrests have been made.”

Home affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said the raid in Durban also resulted in the arrest of a home affairs official.

“It is our understanding that the arrest was related to the officer bringing foreigners into the country.”

The raids on ZTE in Durban, as well as in Cape Town and Bloemfontein, were a joint effort between home affairs, the immigration inspectorate and police, he said.

The Sunday Times had reported that Chinese telecoms company ZTE Corporation was under investigation for allegedly bringing hundreds of illegal workers into the country every month.

It reported that ZTE had won a Cell C contract worth R2.9

billion in January to roll out its high-speed network.

In a statement Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt said the company had entered into a contract with ZTE to expand its network in the southern parts of South Africa. He said Cell C however was not responsible for employee matters of its subcontractors.

“The contract between Cell C and ZTE is a “turnkey” contract. This means that ZTE as an independent contractor… is accountable for engaging its own employees and sub-contractors.

“Cell C is not responsible for the recruitment policies or processes of ZTE.”

Reichelt said he had only become aware of alleged illegal Chinese workers when he was approached with questions by the Sunday newspaper.

“Cell C has asked ZTE to urgently provide it with information in this regard and has since been assured by ZTE that all of its workers have the necessary and legal documentation to work in South Africa.”

ZTE spokesman Chris Fuentes said it was a ZTE, and not a Cell C matter. The company had applied to home affairs a while ago to have work permits extended for its Chinese workers.

“It seems our applications were delayed… there is a major problem with the department… after the world cup, home affairs was on strike,” Fuentes said.

“It is not just us, but many multinational companies which have their applications delayed. What happened is that our people came here with a 90-day visa. We then asked for work permits. Even when the visas expired, the permits were not processed.

“What we perhaps should have done is promoted dialogue with the department, voicing our concerns and challenges that we had experienced with delays.”

Fuentes said with such a short turnaround time for their contract they had been forced to look for workers from various places. They had not been trying to promote using only Chinese labourers.

Fuentes denied reports that 16 people had been detained. He said only three were detained in Durban because they did not have their passports on them. They were released soon after producing them. A person at the company’s Cape Town branch was detained and released on Thursday.

“Right now we are collecting information to send out a release showing all our people are totally legal.”

The Congress of SA Trade Unions said there was no justification for importing labour from overseas when unemployment in South Africa was so high.

“I am sure there are South African workers with the requisite skills,” Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven told Sapa.

If there weren’t any people skilled enough, locals should be trained.

“It’s outrageous. If the allegations are true, we can say it is tantamount to human trafficking… labour brokering on a global scale.” – Sapa

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Events are critical at the moment and, according to the latest reports by experts, they are not going to improve in the later part of the year. Indeed, it has been forecast that even more businesses will go bust and a greater number of jobs will be lost.

Britain’s financial problems are affecting almost every area of trade. It seems to be a horribly regular occurrence for a company to go into compulsory liquidation. Every time we switch on the news we hear about more and more businesses going into administration. But what we don’t hear about is just how many other companies are holding on for dear life.

If you are up to your eyeballs in debt then it is all too easy to begin thinking there is no way out. But there are often alternatives. Rather than ending up in a state of compulsory liquidation, many businesses manage to negotiate with their creditors and come up with an agreed payment plan. Just how formal this arrangement is would be left to the parties involved.

However, the good news is that businesses are not in this alone. There are several very good business rescue, recovery and restructuring specialists who can help you to find your way out of debt. They are fully aware of how grim a climate it is at present and will do everything possible to assist you. These people have a huge amount of experience in their field and are always worth getting in touch with. At the end of the day; what have you got to lose? And it does not need to get to the point of compulsory liquidation before you give them a call.

Even when it looks as if there is no way of getting a company back on track, this is not always the case. Depending on just how bad a situation is, it may be possible to continue trading even after a winding up order has been issued. Acting quickly and decisively is vital; and by seeking the correct legal advice, you could actually rescue your business from the brink. Just take note; if you are wanting to put in a winding up petition, then it must be presented by all of your company’s directors.

Financial recovery is not always possible, but far more can be done than most people realize. Business recovery specialists will be able to tell you the best route to take. They can help you with a wide range of things; right from dealing with your debts, to the finer details of a winding up petition.

If you want to contact someone in this area then have a look on the internet. By reading through the information on websites you will be able to find out exactly what help is on offer.

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