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The works council cited CEO Werner Baumann as he spoke to staff
at a gathering at the group's Leverkusen headquarters on Sept
28. Reuters reported last month that considerable restructuring
efforts at drug research and development, including outsourcing,
were underway.
"Werner Baumann spoke about the prospect of weaker growth at the
pharmaceutical business and mentioned considerations that some
expenditures on pharma research could be outsourced," the works
council said in a statement.
A person familiar with the company told Reuters last month that
Bayer, which bought Monsanto for $63 billion this year, is
considering job cuts and outsourcing as part of a wide-ranging
review of drug research and development that will last until at
least November.
The savings that Bayer - the inventor of aspirin and maker of
Yasmin birth control pills - could make as part of the overhaul
would give it financial wiggle room as it competes with larger
rivals to buy the right to promising treatments from biotech
firms.
Revenues from the drug unit's top products, blood thinner
Xarelto and eye drug Eylea, will peak over the next six years.
A Bayer spokesman said Baumann's remarks were in reference to
plans to intensify external collaborations, which had previously
been communicated.
The works council said it wanted more information and demanded
wider-ranging job guarantees, beyond a pact that was previously
agreed with the company.
(Reporting by Patricia Weiss,; Writing by Ludwig Burger, editing
by Ed Osmond)
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