French Airbus workers stage massive one-day strike to protest Power8=0AWedn= esday March 7, 2007 =0AThousands of French Airbus workers staged a one-day = strike at plants across the country yesterday, with an estimated 4,000 marc= hing in the streets of Toulouse to protest the company's Power8 restructuri= ng plan that calls for 10,000 job cuts including 4,300 in France. =0AFive u= nions jointly organized the protest, which reportedly featured boisterous m= archers carrying signs deriding the restructuring plan as "Power Hate." Lab= or leaders said workers would return to plants today but warned that future= work actions were possible, particularly if Airbus moves to cut permanent = employees, which it has said it will consider in 12-18 months if voluntary = measures do not yield sufficient reductions. The European Metalworkers' Fed= eration said yesterday that Airbus workers across Europe should hold a one-= day strike on March 16.=0AYesterday's strike in France followed actions at = German Airbus plants last week (ATWOnline, March 2). German Economics Minis= ter Michael Glos downplayed concerns that the unrest will hurt production r= ates, saying, "the current agitation [will] calm down." =0ABut with a heate= d presidential campaign underway in France and some candidates calling for = government intervention, Airbus's ability to implement Power8 smoothly rema= ins uncertain. France, which owns a 15% stake in Airbus parent EADS, alread= y has pledged =80100 million ($132 million) to help fund its development of= composite materials, but the current government is backing Power8 and said= additional state support is not needed at this time.=0Aby Aaron Karp=0AVie= w the March 7, 2007 issue of Daily News =0AView this week's news =0AView th= e Daily News archive =0AOther headlines: