Mike: Jobless Claims will be the news of the day.
* The Labor Department said Thursday that first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 652,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 644,000. That is slightly above analysts’ expectations.
The total number of people claiming benefits are up 122,000 to 5.56 million, significantly higher than economists’ projections of 5.48 million.
via More than 5.5 million are getting jobless benefits – Yahoo! Finance.
* The number of people collecting state unemployment benefits has reached yet another new record, jumping 122,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.56 million in the week ending March 14, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of these claims rose 123,750 to 5.33 million, also a new record. For the week ending March 21, first-time claims for benefits rose 8,000 to 652,000, a level that is 78% higher than the same period in the prior year.
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- IBM to cut 5,000 jobs in U.S
- 6,000 in UAW accept buyouts at GM
- Agilent to cut 2,700 jobs
- Trican slashes payroll by 13% (200)
- Hundreds lose jobs at Disney World
- Google to cut 200 jobs from sales force
- Plantronics to close plant, cut 670 jobs
- University of Alabama to cut 1,000 jobs
- Navistar plant lays off 170 in Arkansas
– Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors & News –
Mike: While companies are designed to improve the bottom line, there should be some recourse for the taxpayer when a company decides to move thousands of jobs overseas. IBM has received US government contracts worth $1,622,287,510 in 2008 and $328,358,670 so far in 2009 (Opensecrets.org). It would be interesting to know what percentage of those government contracts are spent on IBMs overseas operations.
* A short two months ago, IBM CEO Sam Palmisano sent an e-mail to employees, thanking them for sprinting Big Blue past the $100 billion revenue mark for the first time ever.
“We had a strong fourth quarter and a great 2008,” he wrote. “I want to thank you for everything you have done to help achieve this impressive performance.”
Palmisano praised two units in particular – Global Business Services and Global Technology Services – that delivered pre-tax profit growth of 32 percent.
On Thursday, about 4,000 U.S. employees in Global Business Services – a unit that includes IBM Sterling Forest in Orange County, IBM Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County and IBM Research at Ossining – will be laid off, and their jobs will be sent to India, according to Lee Conrad, national coordinator for Alliance@IBM, a union-backed group.
via IBM layoffs to hit Orange County, Dutchess County – recordonline.com – The Times Herald Record.
* IBM (IBM.N) will cut about 5,000 jobs in the United States, adding to similarly large cuts in the past few months, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
The job cuts will account for over 4 percent of IBM’s U.S. workforce, which totaled around 115,000 at the end of 2008. The sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue, said the cuts will mostly be in IBM’s global services business, which includes outsourcing and consulting services.
Mike: The following site has plenty of comments about the IBM layoff that you may find interesting.
* IBM (IBM) is planning to cut a large number of U.S. jobs from its services business, moving their workload to IBM employees in India, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing “people familiar with the situation.”
via Tech Trader Daily – Barron’s Online : IBM Cutting 5,000 Service Jobs; Moving Work To India (Updated).
* The severance package IBM Corp. is expected to give employees selected for a layoff includes a lump sum severance payment as well as counseling and financial planning services.
IBM is expected on Thursday to lay off as many as 4,000 to 5,000 employees in its Global Business Services Unit, according to the Alliance@IBM.
via IBM plans lump sum severance for those laid off.
* TORONTO — IBM Canada Ltd. is cutting an unspecified number of jobs across the country, according to a spokesman for the computer and software company.
Mike Boden told The Canadian Press that IBM Canada is in the midst of cuts that will affect “a wide range of jobs and positions,” from executives to customer service staff.
via The Canadian Press: IBM Canada spokesman says company cutting jobs across the country.
* SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc (NasdaqGS:GOOG – News) is cutting its sales and marketing team by roughly 200 employees, saying it had over-invested in certain parts of the company.
Reuters – A man walks past Google Inc. headquarters in Mountain View, California, May 8, 2008. REUTERS/Kimberly White …
The move is the Web search leader’s latest effort to cut costs amid a tough economy and a broad slowdown in advertising spending. In January, Google laid off about 100 recruiters and it said up to 40 people would be laid off in February, when Google pulled the plug on its radio advertising effort
via Google to cut 200 jobs from sales force – Yahoo! Finance.
Jobless Claims
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8:30 AM ET
* WASHINGTON (AP) — For a 10th straight week, the number of people who are continuing to claim jobless benefits increased, fresh evidence that the labor market remains weak despite other hopeful signs that the recession may have bottomed out.
New claims for unemployment benefits last week rose to a seasonally adjusted 652,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 644,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The total number of people claiming benefits jumped to 5.56 million, worse than economists’ projections of 5.48 million, a ninth straight record and the highest total on records dating back to 1967.
via Jobless claims set new record; GDP down more in 4Q – Yahoo! Finance.
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8:30 AM ET* DeWitt, NY — The owners of the New Process Gear plant in DeWitt have agreed to meet with federal officials to discuss a last-minute aid package that could keep the auto parts factory from closing, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said Tuesday.
via Federal aid package could keep New Process Gear from closing.
Mike: I have to give the French credit for being involved with their worker rights!
* Pithiviers, France — Workers at a factory operated by the U.S. firm 3M today released the French manager they had held hostage for more than 24 hours until a deal on conditions for laid-off staffers was reached.
* SEATTLE – A local developer is offering a unique incentive to catch the interest of potential buyers.
For the next two months, Stellar Developments is offering anyone who buys a condo at Thornton Place in Northgate a guarantee that if they lose their job, they won’t lose their new home.
via Condo buyers offered layoff protection plan | Business | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington .
* It’s been nearly two weeks since Gov. Rick Perry told Washington to take its stimulus and shove it.
(Or, more accurately, to take our stimulus and shove it.) The unemployment insurance funds he rejected include Texans’ tax dollars, which will just be redistributed to other states if the Legislature doesn’t come up with a way to keep them.
For the sake of workers, and business owners alike, let’s hope they do. The debate is still raging in Austin, though. And my question is, besides politics, why?
via Falkenberg: Perry’s logic on stimulus is misleading | Front page | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.
* OTTAWA — A smaller bureaucracy at City Hall, with 44 more people laid off on Wednesday, will deliver better service for Ottawans, the mayor and city manager say.
via More jobs cut at City Hall; manager says services will improve .
* QUINCY — Quincy, IL – Like many businesses Quincy Notre Dame is facing some tough decisions.
School officials notified staff and students earlier this week it has to cut three teachers and will not fill a fourth open teaching position.
via Notre Dame plans staff cuts : News : KHQA .
* WATSONVILLE — The Pajaro Valley school board cut 222 jobs late Wednesday.
The custodians, school secretaries and other classified staff will join the nearly 200 teachers who received pink slips earlier this month.
via Pajaro Valley school board cuts 222 jobs – San Jose Mercury News.
* GREENSBORO — Guilford County Schools Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green announced today he is proposing eliminating nearly 100 positions from next year’s budget.
via Guilford superintendent previews proposed cuts : News-Record.com : Greensboro, North Carolina.
* STUART — The Martin County Clerk of the Circuit Court has laid off nine workers in response to a steep decline in revenue from court fees and traffic fines.
– US and some Canada Layoff News –
* Agilent Technologies Inc (A.N) is reducing its workforce by 2,700 people, or 14 percent, in response to a steep reduction in revenue expected for 2009 due to the weak economy and “no prospects for a meaningful recovery in the foreseeable future.”
* The plant, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, employed about 170 employees, many of whom are unionized. About 130 were called back to work last month.
via Mountain Top plant closing today | News | standardspeaker.com – The Standard Speaker.
* Cindy Robinson has been working for Alatech for two decades, and says this is all she knows.
She says, “This is the only thing that I’ve done for 20 years, it would put three of my family members out of work because my husband and daughter work here too.”
Soon that could be taken away from her and fellow co-workers. Alatech holds a contract with AID, but AID is considering not renewing its contract with the Eufaula plant, and is moving its business overseas.
* The move, which affected about 150 employees, is the latest effort by the wealth manager to cut costs following layoffs of less than 10% of its branch support staff and several hundred rookie brokers in December and February, respectively.
via Merrill Cuts, Shifts Jobs Of Some Wealth-Management Managers.
* Man Group Plc, the largest publicly traded hedge-fund manager, said it will cut its workforce by about 15 percent after fiscal year profit dropped and assets under management declined by a third.
via Man Group to Cut Jobs as Profit Falls, Assets Drop (Update1) – Bloomberg.com .
* Guthrie would reduce its $28 million budget by 14 percent — about $4 million — for the fiscal year that begins April 1. Those savings would come from senior-management pay cuts, a weeklong furlough for the theater’s nonunion employees, some layoffs and a reliance on presenting outside shows on the theater’s proscenium stage instead of producing them in-house.
via Guthrie Theater to cut jobs, salaries to slice $4M from budget – TwinCities.com.
* In addition to the temporary layoffs, the plant is planning to make more longer term cuts.
“Right now we currently have approximately 130 employees on “indefinite layoff” and as we go through the year, we anticipate another 100-110,” explains Graham.
via Corvette Plant Employees Laid Off Again .
* More than 6,000 UAW members have accepted buyout and early retirement packages offered by General Motors Corp., which will allow the struggling automaker to reduce its hourly ranks as part of its restructuring plan, the Free Press has learned.
* BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—The Bakersfield Californian will lay off 26 staffers and implement a 5 percent company-wide pay cut as the newspaper tries to balance its budget amid shrinking advertising revenue.
via Bakersfield newspaper to lay off 26 workers – San Jose Mercury News.
* Halliburton this week laid off another untold number of workers at its Grand Junction facility.
via Another round of layoffs at Halliburton.
* CORVALLIS — The Children’s Farm Home in Corvallis will lay off nine people as part of a workforce reduction announced Wednesday by Trillium Family Services.
via Farm home lays off nine – News , Local | Albany Democrat-Herald.
* More layoffs have been announced at Hamilton County’s largest employer. Electrolux Home Products announced that 129 people will face temporary layoffs at the washer and dryer plant in Webster City effective this Monday, March 30. With this latest announcement, 369 people have been laid off since at Electrolux since last November.
via Radio Iowa: Electrolux lays off more workers in Webster City.
* BETHLEHEM — Owens Corning put 60 workers at its Selkirk plant on furlough Tuesday.
via Owens Corning furloughs 60 — Page 1 — Times Union – Albany NY.
* The Globe needed 50 newsroom employees to take buyouts by last Friday but only 24 have signed up. Employees have a week to rescind after applying for the buyout and the final deadline is tomorrow.
via 24 Globe employees accept buyout – BostonHerald.com.
* MANSFIELD — Swedish-owned Sandvik Mining and Construction USA will shutter its Mansfield plant in October and lay off its 90 employees in three phases, starting in May, company officials said Wednesday.
via Mansfield plant closing to cost 90 jobs | Arlington | Star-Telegram.com.
* Broken Arrow, OK – Natural gas compression unit manufacturer Exterran says it will close its plant in Broken Arrow by the end of May, resulting in the loss of 150 jobs.
via Broken Arrow Plant Closing|NewsChannel 8.
* Automotive supplier Columbus Components Group has decided to part with 135 employees starting next month, according to a published report.
via Columbus auto supplier shedding 135 jobs | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star .
* The Statesman Journal newspaper reports that the notice was issued in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires employers to alert community leaders of mass layoffs.
* The University of North Carolina at Greensboro will be forced to make job cuts.
Chancellor Linda Brady sent a letter to employees recently alerting them of potential layoffs. The university said more than 100 jobs would be cut if the state ordered a 7% budget cut.
via UNCG to Make Job Cuts Due to Budget Cuts – WGHP.
* MacLean said officials hope to see 47 faculty members resign or take early retirement and then those employees won’t be replaced.
via Queen’s University cuts programs, 47 faculty jobs.
* In a sign of a deepening pullback in the oil industry, Trican Well Service Ltd., one of Calgary’s largest oilfield services companies, has laid off 200 people, or 13 per cent of its workforce, in response to low activity levels.
via Trican slashes payroll by 13% .
* Thirty-two of the approximate 400 employees at the Chittenango plant were laid off this week, said Jeff Nguyen, site manager. Twenty-six of them were in manufacturing and six of them were office employees.
via Chittenango factory lays off 32 people.
* Trinity Industries notified its employees today of the company’s intent to idle two manufacturing facilities. The layoff affects 156 hourly and administrative employees.
via More layoffs for East Texas railcar company.
* And it announced a new round of job cuts that includes the company’s CEO Kenneth Chahine and other executives.
via Avigen chops execs and readies liquidation plan – FierceBiotech.
* Job cuts at three companies in Indiana will put 400 more Hoosiers into the unemployment line.
via 400 jobs cut in three Ind. cities | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star .
* About 200 jobs will be eliminated at the Pennsylvania site, Fairchild said.
via Fairchild Semi to close 2 sites, cut 200 jobs – Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal: .
* NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Times Co laid off 100 employees on Thursday and cut salaries for the rest of the year by 5 percent, and said it might cut newsroom jobs at its namesake newspaper if it cannot get union employees to agree to a similar cut.
via New York Times lays off staff, seeks pay cuts | Entertainment | Industry | Reuters .
* Plantronics Inc. plans to cut about 670 positions and close its manufacturing plant in Suzhou, China to improve profitability of its Bluetooth headset product line, the company said Thursday.
* Disney, which is Central Florida’s largest employer with about 62,000 “cast members,” refused to say Thursday how many jobs it has eliminated. But one person familiar with some details of the cuts said he was given an estimate of 450.
via Disney World layoffs: Hundreds lose jobs at Disney World — newsday.com.
* HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) – The University of Alabama System chancellor says its three campuses will shed some 1,000 jobs over the next 18 months because of a deepening budget crisis.
via WSFA 12 News Montgomery, AL |University of Alabama to cut 1,000 jobs.
* Marian University announced Thursday that it will cut 15 jobs in the 2009-10 school year and reduce hours for 23 other positions as part of a plan to cut its operating budget by 10 percent.
via Marian to cut 15 jobs, $1 million from operations | fdlreporter.com | Fond du Lac Reporter.
* CONWAY, Ark. – A school bus plant owned by Warrenville, Ill.-based Navistar has laid off 170 more workers in Arkansas.
via Navistar plant lays off 170 in Arkansas — chicagotribune.com.
* The Dechert law firm said Thursday it has laid off 125 lawyers and staff firmwide due to the economic slowdown.
via Dechert lays off 125 – Philadelphia Business Journal: .
* Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge is laying off about 60 people
via 125 Laid Off at Dechert; 60 Cut at Edwards Angell | ABA Journal – Law News Now.
* Clifford Chance (CC) has announced a new round of redundancies in its New York office, with 24 associates to be laid off from transactional practice groups.
* WACO – A spokesman for Trane has confirmed that 80 employees at its McGregor facility have been laid off. Severance packages and outplacement support is being provided to those being laid off.
* * Impinj, a Seattle maker of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, has laid off 23 employees, cut back its contract workers, and is making unspecified cuts in spending in response to the economic downturn.
via Impinj lays off 23: bizjournals.com Business News – MSN Money.
* The United Steelworkers expects to see as many as 30 workers laid off at a Wellsburg paper plant in early April.
via Union: WVa paper plant to lay off about 30 workers – Forbes.com.
* According to Mary Ann Rhyne with GSK, employees from the Customer Response Center in RTP were let go. Rhyne also said the lay offs were part of the cuts that were announced in November.
via GSK Lays Off Employees At RTP Location – Wake County – MyNC.com.
* Hollywood-based TOUSA Inc. filed notice today with the state that it plans to cut 67 construction jobs between May 22 of this year and Dec. 31, 2010.
* MUNSTER — About 50 workers will lose their jobs this spring when the Amazon.com distribution center here closes, company officials said Wednesday.
* Entropic Communications, which makes networking chips that can connect home electronic products connected by coaxial cable, said it is cutting 55 employees or 18 percent of its work force as part of a restructuring effort.
* Printing press maker Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG on Thursday announced plans to cut as many as 2,500 more jobs as it deepens a cost-cutting drive amid a slump in demand fueled by the global economic crisis.
* BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP.AX)(BLT.L) has cut about 400 jobs held by outside contractors at coal mines in Australia, the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) said Thursday.
* Crystal producer Swarovski announced yesterday (Weds) it would lay off 600 workers this year and 500 more later on at its Tyrol headquarters facility.
* MORE THAN 500 teachers who provide English language support to foreign nationals will lose their jobs as a result of budget cutbacks.
* A food packaging factory is to close with the loss of 62 jobs, only a year after it was rescued.
Anson Packaging, which is based at Wrexham’s Queensway industrial estate, has issued redundancy notices after a consultation period.
via BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | North East Wales | Packaging factory set for closure.
* Fears are growing that 70 jobs may be lost at the Dell-owned subsidary Alienware’s facility in Co Westmeath.
via Dell-owned firm expected to cut 70 jobs – The Irish Times – Wed, Mar 25, 2009.
* The La Martinière group plans to cut 44 jobs in France as a first step to reduce costs over the next three years.
via La Martinière to cut 44 jobs | theBookseller.com.
* Since October, the Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Office (UPSVaR) in Zvolen (Banska Bystrica region) has been notified of a total of 1,250 planned lay-offs in the region’s districts of Zvolen, Detva and Krupina, TASR was told on Thursday.
via Tlačová agentúra Slovenskej republiky.
* One thousand workers, out of the current workforce of 3,500 are, therefore, expected to go home with the bulk of them coming from the Eastern railway line. Revenue generation of the company has dropped to its lowest ebb of 10% over the past years. As a result of this, management could not pay the End of Service Benefit to some of the workers who were laid off sometime ago.
via Ghanaian Chronicle – Online : The current time is 6:44:12 AM on 3/26/2009.
* Polestar is set to shed around 90 jobs with the planned closure of its Worcestershire-based polybagging facility Newspac and a reduction in finishing staff at its flagship gravure site in Sheffield.
* UTi did not specify how many jobs have been eliminated and a company spokesman was not immediately available early Thursday. The company said the cost cuts would reduce operating costs for fiscal 2010 by about $50 million.
via UTi posts 4Q loss on charges, lower volumes – Forbes.com.
* Fishing company Sealord today confirmed it will transfer fish processing to a freezer-trawler and move to a single shift and the loss of 130 jobs at its Nelson fish plant.
* Liberty National Life Insurance Co. has established a branch office in Jacksonville and will interview job applicants April 8.
via Liberty National hiring for Jacksonville branch – Jacksonville Business Journal: .
* Liberty National Life Insurance Co. plans to hire 650 commissioned-based sales agents, including 100 people in the Richmond area
via Liberty National plans to hire 100 in Richmond area | Richmond Times-Dispatch.
* Lafarge is recalling 50 fulltime workers laid off six weeks ago from the cement plant in Bath, southeast of Napanee.
via Mix 97 | News Team » Blog Archive » Lafarge recalls 50 laid off workers in Bath.
* For Andersen, that meant recalling 180 of the 560 workers it laid off in January.
via Andersen recalls 180 workers because of window tax credit.
* ELLENBORO, W.Va. — Simonton Windows is recalling 80 of 115 workers who were laid off from its Ritchie County operations in January.
* Kansas City has been chosen by a U.S.-British consortium for an assembly plant expected to employ 200 people manufacturing all-electric powered delivery vans, according to government officials.
via Electric jolt: 200 jobs coming to KC | Dollars & Sense.
* Enterprise Rent-A-Car is opening a customer claims call center with about 200 fulltime jobs in Gainesville on June 1, the company confirmed Wednesday.
via Call center to bring 200 jobs | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, FL.
* The project is expected to create more than 200 construction jobs, according to airport officials.
via Airport Projects Bringing More Than 6,000 Jobs – Phoenix News Story – KPHO Phoenix.
* Holiday Inn Express and Suites will open for business today (March 26) in Lake Zurich.
via New Lake Zurich hotel provides 75 jobs for area :: News :: PIONEER PRESS :: Lake Zurich Courier .
* Another company plans to manufacture solar panels and put hundreds of people to work. Toledo and its suburbs are poised to harvest the power of the sun by making millions of solar panels. First Solar and Xunlight are taking off. Yesterday, a third major manufacturer announced it would set up shop in Perrysburg.
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Mike: More news later in the day……………………
Tom Toles - Mar 26
Mike: For an entertaining way to view a variety of blogs, take a look at http://alphainventions.com.
Tags: COBRA, cut jobs, economic, employment, factory closing, firing, hiring, IBM, job loss, jobs cut, laid off, layoffs, plant closing, positions eliminated, redundancies, staff cuts, unemployment, workforce reduction
