Applications, middleware and database vendor Oracle is preparing to make between 850 and 1,000 employees redundant, according to a French trade union which claims to have been informed by the company itself.

The branch of the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT) said that Oracle, which employs 17,000 people in Europe, cited disappointing revenue performance in the region and a need to maintain the company’s operating margin in order to realise its long-term strategy.

Last week, Oracle revealed that its total revenues fell 5% to $6.9 billion in its most recent financial quarter. In Europe, revenue fell by nearly 10% to $2.4 billion. The company’s operating margin during the quarter, however, was at 48% the highest in the company’s history.

The CFDT expressed its “surprise” and “anger” at the news, and questioned why 250 French jobs were to go if, as Oracle told investors, its most recent financial results were better than expected. It added elsewhere that Oracle’s example might encourage other companies to react to short term financial difficulties with lay-offs.

Oracle has yet to respond to the news. It is not clear whether these redundancies relate to the acquisition of Sun Microsystems, which has yet to receive approval from European anti-trust authorities.