In particular, the salary of 390 workers not covered by agreements with the metal workers' union will be cut by 10 percent, according to German news magazine Spiegel.

An official from the trade union IG Metall, Heinrich Urban, condemned the "audacity" of the cuts unveiled by Siemens.

Urban said the program would save around 1.2 billion euros ($1.9billion), adding "that's almost as much as has been uncovered so far in the corruption scandal."

Siemens, Germany's third biggest company, has been hit by a corruption scandal involving bribes to secure foreign contracts. Slush funds of 1.3 billion euros have been identified by Siemens.

The company announced the job cuts on Tuesday. Siemens chief executive Peter Loescher is planning to reduce administration and management costs by 1.2 billion euros by 2010.