Daimler labor representative: Trucks cost cut plans put 2,000 jobs at risk

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Daimler management wants to cut costs further at its truck plants in Germany, an objective which could threaten around 2,000 jobs, labor representative and deputy supervisory board chairman Michael Brecht said on Wednesday. Daimler management has approached labor representatives about plans to achieve the cost savings at three plants in Gaggenau, Mannheim and Kassel by 2022, Brecht said in a statement. "This is not something we can accept as labor representatives," Brecht said. Cost cuts at these plants, which employ around 14,600 staff, need to take into account growth potential and efficiency gains. A Daimler spokesman declined to comment on the specific nature of potential cost saving plans, but acknowledged there were currently management deliberations about how to raise the competitiveness of various factories. "There is no concrete aim to cut jobs. What matters is how certain locations are set up going forward," a spokesman said. Overall, Daimler Trucks has 79,000 employees. Daimler Trucks aims to reach sales of more than 500,000 vehicles in 2015, and 700,000 units in 2020. The division seeks to record an average return on sales of 8 percent. To reach these goals, Daimler Trucks has been working on a cost and efficiency program to make 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in savings by end 2014. (Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach, writing by Edward Taylor; editing by Keiron Henderson)