France’s Groupe Bull to Cut 5,000 Jobs : Europe: Almost half of the computer maker’s trims will be made in the United States.

Groupe Bull, the state-owned computer maker, said today it will trim about 5,000 workers next year, or more than 10% of its work force, with almost half the job reductions coming in the United States.

Bull also projected it will lose $570 million this year.

Bull, which employs about 47,000 people worldwide, already has laid off 3,000 workers this year in addition to 2,000 in 1989.

Bull’s U.S. operations include the former Honeywell computer units as well as Zenith Data Systems Corp., a maker of personal computers.

The steps are part of a long-awaited reorganization program that also will include plant closings. Bull said the plan is aimed at helping the company turn a profit by 1992.

“The situation is a consequence of deep structural changes affecting the major (information systems) manufacturers worldwide,” said Bull’s chairman, Francis Lorentz.

The company said it will implement an early retirement plan for its U.S. workers. But it said the job reductions will include layoffs, including up to 1,000 of its 3,725 workers in Massachusetts, 250 of its 1,900 employees in Phoenix, and 350 of its 2,500 employees at field locations in the United States.

In addition, it plans to eliminate about 500 jobs at Zenith Data Systems, based outside Chicago, and at least 20% of the 2,050 jobs at its U.S. headquarters in Billerica, Mass.

Bull also said it plans to eliminate up to 100 jobs in Canada.

The company gave few details about plant closings. However, it said it expected to transfer some work to its Massachusetts operations as it cuts back elsewhere domestically and abroad.

French union leaders said they would protest the cutbacks.

Jean-Francois Bolzinger, an administrator of the leftist General Confederation of Labor, said 1,100 of the jobs targeted for elimination were in France.