Basf will axe jobs in Basel region

The German chemical group BASF will cut 180 jobs in the Basel region: the cut will occur within 2018 and will cover the area of research and development. The measure is part of a restructuring launched worldwide.

In the research center in Basel – with offices in Basel and Schweizerhalle-Rosental – BASF works with additives and pigments for plastics and lacquers, as well as new materials for organic electronics and 3D printing. Most of these activities will be halted or moved elsewhere in the group, it said in a statement. The Basel region will remain important, however, for other research and development activities, emphasizes the group. In addition to the 180 jobs eliminated there will be an additional 100 to be transferred to other business units in Switzerland.

The restructuring will be collaboratively: the company will try to find another location within the group for the workers affected by the decision.
In a statement the association Swiss Employees expresses its concern regarding the fact that increasingly restructuring relate the most innovative areas of companies and then asks the management to re-evaluate the plan. According to the association, if the staff cut was implemented, the posts of BASF work in northwestern Switzerland would drop to 350.