– What do you call someone who eliminates hundreds of thousands of American jobs, deprives millions of adequate health care and nutrition, undermines schools, but offers a $15,000 bonus to affluent people who flip their houses?
Paul Krugman
A proud centrist. For that is what the senators who ended up calling the tune on the stimulus bill just accomplished.
Even if the original Obama plan — around $800 billion in stimulus, with a substantial fraction of that total given over to ineffective tax cuts — had been enacted, it wouldn’t have been enough to fill the looming hole in the U.S. economy, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will amount to $2.9 trillion over the next three years.
– Yet the centrists did their best to make the plan weaker and worse.
- Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors/News
General Economic News
Municipal News
US and some Canada Layoff News
International News
Hiring News
– Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors & News –
* Since November, IBM (nyse: IBM – news – people ) Chief Executive Sam Palmisano has been making futurist statements about the need for a “smarter” national infrastructure, using information technology to upgrade the nation’s roads, electric grid and health care system in a bid to increase their efficiency; to make America more internationally competitive and to create thousands of jobs.
IBM on Monday put its chief’s words into action, announcing a broad update of its products and services aimed at building those intelligent systems and dealing with the massive amounts of data they would create. Such projects could include adding millions of sensors to the nation’s power grid or digitizing every American’s health records.
via IBM’s ‘Smart’ Moves – Forbes.com.
* Confabulations and conversations on Twitter are saying that Google is laying some of their engineers and employees, even if some of them are on critical projects. That means Google is optimizing its workforce and switching over to cost cutting exercises-Layoffs being one of them.
via Twitter Tweets Talk About Google Lay Offs.
* According to some Twitter reports by friends of Google employees, Google has given management the mandate to reduce headcount at Google and layoff engineers and other employees, even on critical projects. Yes, Google is trimming the fat, cutting back and optimizing its workforce.
* Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC may have to be forced into bankruptcy by the U.S. government to assure repayment of $17.4 billion in federal bailout loans, a course of action the automakers claim would destroy them.
U.S. taxpayers currently take a backseat to prior creditors, including Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to loan agreements posted on the U.S. Treasury’s Web site. The government has hired a law firm to help establish its place at the front of the line for repayment, two people involved in the work said last week.
via Bloomberg.com: U.S..
Mike: It’s good to see that workers are finally getting organized and showing up to demand action from their so called representatives:
* U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver on Sunday ripped opponents of a financial lifeline to the U.S. auto industry and said the working class — not Wall Street — would turn the economy around.
Cleaver, speaking before about 1,000 people at Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley, said the banking industry received financial help last year with little criticism of salaries paid in that industry. But when U.S. automakers asked for help, opponents in Congress told assembly-line workers that they were paid too much and needed to take a pay cut.
via Rally for U.S. workers attracts nearly 1,000 in KC – Kansas City Star.
* KENTVILLE, N.S. – Several hundred unemployed workers marched through Kentville on Sunday during a rally that called for a chicken processing co-operative to provide them with their unpaid salary.
The workers told CTV television they’re owed $1.2 million in unpaid salary, vacation pay and sick leave.
via Hundreds rally after layoffs of workers at N.S. chicken processor – AOL Money Canada .
* When Uncle Sam comes calling, not even the jobless are exempt.
– Unemployment aid is taxed as regular income by the federal government and most states, said Mark Steber, vice president of tax resources at Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. If you don’t choose to withhold taxes from your check, you could have a balance due on April 15, even as you struggle to pay the bills.
“Unfortunately, it’s a surprise in many cases,” he said.
via Unemployment compensation subject to income tax, but breaks also available — chicagotribune.com.
Mike: I wonder how much money WB is in line for in the stimulus package……………
* In a move that could ruffle a few feathers in the Barack Obama administration, American entertainment giant Warner Bros is planning to outsource jobs to India.
It is believed that about 200 positions are to be outsourced to India and Poland by Warner Bros, which also said it would slash about 10 per cent of its 8,000-strong workforce in the coming days.
via Warner Bros to outsource jobs to India .
Jeff Stahler - Feb 8
* The state hiring freeze announced by Gov. Sarah Palin last month is likely to affect hundreds of jobs in Alaska’s capital, totaling millions of dollars in payroll removed from the local economy, according to state officials.
* By 9 a.m., the line snakes down South Clinton Street and extends along Freeway East. Once the people clear the metal detector, they’re in line again — some for hours, baby carriages in tow — divided into their different needs. Every week hundreds will leave empty-handed because county workers are too inundated to help them all. They are given an appointment and told to come back later — sometimes 10 days later.
All over the New Jersey, the welfare lines are getting longer and longer. Victims of the recession are lining up to apply for food stamps and seek help paying for utilities, rent and subsidized health care in numbers that veteran social service workers have never seen before.
via N.J. welfare lines grow longer as jobs continue to dry up – Breaking News From New Jersey – NJ.com .
* The Des Moines City Council today voted to cut 88 jobs to help save more than $3.3 million next year.
The council’s 7-0 vote came in the face of dozens of opponents who lined up to voice support for friends and co-workers whose jobs were lost.
* After considering alternatives that would have eliminated scores of jobs, the Board of Supervisors voted Monday to cut $30 million from this year’s county budget in a plan that may lay off only 12 employees.
* The University of Chicago Medical Center said today it’s eliminating the jobs of 450 employees as part of a continuing reorganization of its hospitals and health research operations prompted by “today’s financial challenges.”
via University of Chicago Medical Center cutting 450 jobs :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State.
* Just months after promoting an ambitious expansion plan, the president of Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science says deteriorating economic conditions will force the university to lay off 10 percent of its faculty and staff members, cut executive salaries, and suspend contributions to employees’ retirement funds, the Los Angeles Times reports.
via Charles Drew Medical University Announces Layoffs, Executive Pay Cuts – Chronicle.com.
* KV Pharmaceutical says reducing its workforce by approximately 700 jobs
Says workforce reduction includes a combination of terminations and layoffs
Says expects to recall some employees when production and shipment of approved products resume
via BRIEF-KV Pharmaceutical says to cut 700 jobs – Forbes.com.
* Beazer Homes USA Inc. said Monday its fiscal first-quarter loss narrowed even as revenue plunged due to a significant falloff in home closings and new orders as the homebuilder offered fewer sales incentives than it had a year earlier.
Beazer also cut another 300 jobs after the end of the quarter, extending its 32 percent cut in the work force in 2008 and the 70 percent reduction it has imposed since 2006.
via Beazer Homes 1Q loss narrows – BusinessWeek.
* The South Boston Dollar General Distribution Center on Friday announced that it is restructuring its workforce, fundamentally changing the way it supports its retail stores and serves its customers. “The changes will result in more effective and efficient support for our stores,” a company spokesman said.
About 75 of our total employee population in South Boston will be affected by these changes, and given the difficult economic environment, we are working hard to minimize the impact on those employees.
via The News & Record.
* Phoenix Technologies (PTEC) disclosed in an SEC filing that it will reduce its work force by about 68 employees this week as part of an expense reduction plan.
via Tech Trader Daily – Barron’s Online : Phoenix Technologies Cutting 68 Jobs.
* BAE Systems in West Manchester Township said a recent workforce reduction of about 70 people is part of a previously announced reduction that was delayed until the beginning of 2009.
via Delayed BAE layoffs occur – The York Daily Record.
* John Deere Welland Works announced the layoffs of 84 employees in Welland, Ontario.
via John Deere lays off 84 employees in Canada – Related Stories – OPEI SmartBrief.
* Spuncast Inc. has informed state officials that it has laid off 30 workers from the company’s Watertown plant because of a “sudden and unexpected termination of contracts” from principal clients.
via Spuncast lays off 30 in Watertown – The Business Journal of Milwaukee: .
* HANOVER, N.H. (AP) Dartmouth College will lay off 60 workers this week and cut its budget by $72 million over the next two years in response to a sharp decline in its endowment.
via New Jersey Wire – cbs3.com .
* Columbia St. Mary’s Health System announced today it will eliminate 54 jobs over the next three months within its Patient Financial Services division.
via Columbia St. Mary’s to cut 54 more jobs – BizTimes.
* TORONTO — Kingsway Financial Services Inc. (TSX:KFS) is quitting some lines of business, cutting 750 jobs and selling assets, including its common-share equity portfolio, while warning of a “material” fourth-quarter loss.
* Packaging giant MeadWestvaco Corp. has notified state officials it will begin shutting down manufacturing operations in Washington Court House in April, a move that will cost 316 jobs.
via MeadWestvaco closing area plant, cutting 316 jobs – Business First of Columbus: .
* FedEx Freight is making “staffing adjustments” to about 900 positions at 150 of its facilities.
Employees were made aware of the cuts in an e-mail to employees by FedEx Freight president and CEO Doug Duncan Thursday.
via FedEx Freight layoffs will number 900 – Memphis Business Journal:
* Nearly 55 people at Cairo’s Timken plant, which makes needle and roller type bearings, will be laid off as of Feb. 27 in a cost-cutting measure.
via The Post-Searchlight | More Timken employees laid off .
* Fresno Pacific University said today that five faculty and 10 staff members are being laid off because of financial problems caused by the recession.
via Fresno Pacific to lay off 15 people – Updates – fresnobee.com.
* HUNTINGTON — Special Metals laid off workers on Sunday.
Greg Kingery of the United Steelworkers of America said 19 probationary employees were laid off from the Huntington plant, and 25 full-time workers were laid off from the plant in Burnagh, Ky.
via Special Metals lays off workers – The Herald Dispatch.
* Nearly 100 employees of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago will lose their jobs next month, as the nation’s central bank continues to respond to the dramatic falloff in the use of paper checks by cutting back its once extensive network of check-processing faciliities.
via Chicago Fed to cut 100 check-processing jobs — chicagotribune.com.
* TULSA, Okla. (AP) – A Houston-based company that makes oil rigs and oil supply equipment is laying off 61 employees at its plant in Tulsa.
National Oilwell Varco reported the layoffs to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. The layoffs will not take effect for at least 60 days.
* NGK Ceramics USA Inc. says it is permanently laying off 85 workers at a North Carolina plant because of the continued slump in the car and truck markets.
The Charlotte Observer reported Monday that the Mooresville plant also plans to halt production until March 2.
via FayObserver.com – AP Article Page.
* A major manufacturer in the Mountains announces another round of layoffs.
Managers at the Borg Warner plant in Buncombe County told workers today 140 of them will find out they’re getting laid off by the end of the week.
via ABC 13 – Top Stories.
* Air System Components has notified the Texas Workforce Commission it plans to eliminate 58 positions at its El Paso facility.
via Air System Components announces more El Paso layoffs – El Paso Times.
* DETROIT – General Motors Corp. will cut one of two shifts at its Flint South engine plant in April, indefinitely laying off 150 workers, the company said Monday.
via GM to lay off 150 workers at Michigan engine plant — chicagotribune.com.
* Stoughton Trailers is reporting additional job cuts. One of three production lines at the factory has been halted, ending work for about 150 employees, said Patrice Gillespie, vice president of human resources. That shrinks the staff to 350, the lowest since 2001, and it’s down 68 percent from June 2007, when the company had 1,100 employees.
* The bad economic news is spreading to workers at the Hershey plant in Stuarts Draft. We have learned that 148 people will be laid-off for a month-long, forced furlough. Layoffs are expected to begin next Monday.
via NBC29-Hershey Plant to Lay Off Employees.
* Charles River Laboratories International Inc (CRL.N) posted better-than-expected quarterly profit, but 2009 outlook narrowly missed analysts’ targets and the company said it would cut about 3 percent of its headcount.
via UPDATE 1-Charles River Q4 profit tops estimates, to cut jobs | Deals | Regulatory News | Reuters .
* The University of Washington said Monday that it would have to eliminate 600 jobs under the 2009-11 budget proposed last month by Gov. Chris Gregoire.
via UW says it may need to cut 600 jobs – Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle): .
* Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, a unit of Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), plans to cut less than 10 percent, or fewer than 1,000, support staff positions in its branch offices, Dow Jones Newswires said on Monday, citing people familiar with the situation.
* TOKYO, Japan (CNN) — Nissan, Japan’s third-largest automaker, announced a series of steps Monday to deal with the economic downturn, including slashing its workforce by 20,000.
Nissan is planning to slash its global production by 20 percent.
The cost-cutting measures makes Nissan the latest among the country’s carmakers to take drastic action in the face of a worsening financial outlook.
The job reductions will bring down Nissan’s head count from 235,000 to 215,000.
* Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third- largest automaker, said it will slash 20,000 jobs and post its first loss in nine years as the global recession cripples car demand and a stronger yen ravages the value of overseas earnings………..
Nissan’s sales in the U.S., its biggest market, plunged 31 percent in January as demand for Altima sedans and Xterra sport- utility vehicles dried up. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn’s elimination of 9 percent of the workforce caps a month in which all of Japan’s carmakers slashed forecasts and Panasonic Corp. and NEC Corp. cut workers.
via Bloomberg.com: Japan.
* NEW YORK (AP) — Nissan says it has no plans for additional job cuts in the U.S. following its announcement of 20,000 job cuts worldwide.
Nissan North America spokesman Alan Buddendeck says the company has made the cuts it needs and does not expect “extensive further job actions” in the U.S.
* Anglo Platinum Ltd. (AMS.JO), the world’s largest producer of the metal, Monday said it planned to cut up to 10,000 jobs in 2009, equivalent to 13% of its workforce.
The company plans to cut 8,000 contract jobs, and will look to cut another 2,000 jobs by the end of the year.
via DJ Anglo Platinum To Cut Up To 10,000 Jobs In 2009 – MarketWatch .
* Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Orders for Japanese machinery fell for a third month in December as businesses scrapped investment plans amid a collapse in exports and deteriorating earnings.
Bookings slid 1.7 percent from November, when they fell 16.2 percent, the sharpest drop since the survey started in 1987, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. Economists predicted an 8.6 percent drop. Machinery orders signal capital spending in the next three to six months.
via Bloomberg.com: Asia.
* TWO leading business groups today give the UK government apocalyptic warnings that the credit crunch will get worse without “urgent” intervention, amid claims that measures already taken were not working.
According to a survey of businesses, released today, some firms claimed that trade had fallen despite the government’s emergency 2.5 per cent cut in VAT.
Companies have also warned that they are still having problems accessing credit and receiving payment from customers in both the private and public sectors.
via CBI leads calls for urgent action on lending amid ‘apocalyptic’ warnings – Scotsman.com Business .
* VIENNA – Luxury goods manufacturer Swarovski reportedly plans to cut another 150 jobs with immediate effect at its crystal cutting factory in Austria’s Alps.
via Lethbridge Herald – Report says Swarovski plans to cut 150 jobs in Austria’s Alps.
* LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Xstrata said Monday Xstrata Nickel plans to restructure its Sudbury operations in response to ongoing challenging market conditions.
As a result of the restructuring, 686 permanent employee positions will be made redundant, affecting both union and salaried employees in operational and non-operational roles. A three-day stoppage of operations was initiated Monday to allow the restructuring to occur.
via Xstrata To Restructure Sudbury Nickel Operations, Cut 686 Jobs – EasyBourse actualité.
* MADRID -(Dow Jones)- Spanish banking giant Banco Santander SA (STD) plans to cut 300 jobs at its consumer finance unit in Spain, a labor union representative involved in the talks said Monday. The cuts would come via the early retirements of personnel aged over 50 years old, relocation within the group and through the offering of severance packages, an official for union Comisiones Obreras said.
via Santander To Cut 300 Jobs At Consumer Finance Unit -Union – EasyBourse actualité.
* Europe’s biggest bank by market value, HSBC is reported to mulling another 1,000 job cuts, this time exclusively from its Hong Kong operations, after having axed 550 jobs there last September, adding to the country’s recession, which has hit its 6.9 million people.
via domain-b.com : HSBC may axe 1,000 jobs in Hong Kong .
* Bloomberg is set to cut between 80 and 90 jobs from its London multimedia office – almost half the staff – according to sources.
* Nokia Siemens to layoff 100 in Israel
via Nokia Siemens to layoff 100 in Israel.
* HELSINKI (AP) — The world’s largest magazine paper maker UPM-Kymmene Corp. said Monday it will temporarily lay off 1,220 workers in Finland, as the economic downturn continues to hit the wood and paper industry.
via UPM Laying Off 1,200 Workers In Finland .
*Wellstream, the Newcastle-based supplier of pipelines to the oil and gas industry, says it is cut 90 jobs at its Walker manufacturing base.
via Wellstream to axe jobs – nebusiness.co.uk.
* PMP Ltd is closing print sites in Queensland and South Australia, with 76 jobs going as it improves its underperforming print business.
via Business Spectator – PMP cuts 76 jobs with plant closures.
* WA’s biggest cattle processor Harvey Beef has cut 18 jobs as part of a business restructure.
* RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) – Military recruiters in eastern Indiana say their recruitment figures are on the rise, partly because recently laid-off workers are signing up with Uncle Sam.
Some laid-off workers have visited Army recruiter Sgt. Greg Lynch’s office in Richmond to inquire about military careers. He says his office’s recruitment numbers are up and some of the new recruits are people who’ve lost their jobs and don’t have a lot of alternatives.
Mike: Today’s US layoff news wasn’t as dreadful as most days this month, but the international news was active. The stimulus plan is to be voted on by the Senate tomorrow and that may help stem some job losses. Keep your fingers crossed……………
Jerry Holbert - Feb 7
Tags: cut jobs, employment, factory closing, job loss, jobs cut, laid off, layoffs, plant closing, positions eliminated, redundancies, unemployment, workforce reduction
