Shares in telecom-equipment group Alctael-Lucent plunged by 5.81 percent on Wednesday, as controversy built up over a restructuring plan to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide and 900 jobs in France, reports FRANCE 24.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault threatened to block the loss of 900 jobs in France unless the layoffs and plant closures, announced on Tuesday, were pared back.
But the new and outspoken head of the employers' federation Medef, Pierre Gattaz, shot back that the government should allow the group to restructure to face up to competition which is destabilising the telecoms sector.
Shares in Alcatel-Lucent, which had ended on Tuesday with a fall of 4.05 percent, fell a further 5.81 percent in early trading on Wednesday to 2.61 euros. The overall market as measured by the CAC 40 index, was down by 0.26 percent.
The row highlights pressures felt in France when well-known companies want to restructure and shed jobs.
The government is striving to tackle the weak competitive position of French industry and also bring down chronically high levels of unemployment.
At the end of July, Alcatel-Lucent said its first-half losses had more than doubled compared with 12 months earlier.
It posted a loss of 885 million euros ($1.2 billion) in the six months to June, compared with a loss of 396 million euros for the same period in 2012.
French President Francois Hollande has made cutting unemployment a priority, saying he would inverse the trend by the end of the year, against a background of big job cuts by several high-profile French companies this year.
Read more of this AFP report published by FRANCE 24.