Jan. 10, 2002 – Tokyo, Japan – Fujitsu Ltd. plans to cut its workweek by 33% for about 5,000 employees at its semiconductor plants in Japan to save money, a company spokeswoman said.

The new plan has two parts – an introduction of a new working shift to cut each staff member’s hours by 33%, and an offer of long vacations for several months – or more – when the chip market sharply deteriorates, reported Dow Jones and Co.

“We will decide details through talks with our labor union,” such as the scale of wage cuts and the limit length of the long vacation system, the spokeswoman said.

The work-sharing system will affect more than 10% of the company’s parent-based work force.

In this business year through March, Fujitsu expects a group net loss of 310 billion yen ($2.34 billion) – its worst ever – largely because of its chip operations and hefty costs for its drastic restructuring centering on its electronic device operations.