Pharmaceutical and agriculture giant Bayer confirmed on Tuesday that they would be slashing about 4,500 jobs in Germany, affecting 1 in 7 members of its workforce in the country.

The company had already announced in December that it would cut 12,000 jobs internationally. The number revealed on Tuesday indicated that its German workers, who had already protested the cuts last year, will bear the biggest brunt of the losses proportionally.

Bayer has argued that the cuts are necessary to stay profitable and competitive — they are also designed to avoid overlaps with Bayer's major new acquisition, US agriculture behemoth Monsanto. A lot of public attention has been given to Bayer's mounting legal battles since it took over the US conglomerate Monsanto in 2018. The company has already lost one major case regarding the weed killer Roundup, which contains the cancer-causing compound glyphosate.

Adding to Bayer's woes is the fact that several of its profit-driving products, like the blood-thinning medication Xarelto, are set to have their patents expire next year.

The job losses will affect the Bayer branches in Berlin, Wuppertal, and Monheim. The workers' council has agreed to the move, which is says is necessary to "keep attractive conditions" and good pensions for workers.

The company is currently working on a massive structural overall that it hopes will save it 2.6 billion euros ($2.9 billion) a year. The project itself will likely cost the company 4.4 billion euros.

es/msh (AFP, dpa)

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