“If they did not grossly understate it, they were certainly guilty of a significant error of omission,” said Carbonneau, 40, of Windham, N.H. “The total job loss to the community would actually be at around 1,500 — much greater than the 700 that was originally reported by the agency in its press releases earlier this year,” he said.
via Union president: IRS ‘grossly understating’ Andover layoffs – EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA.
Steve Kelley - Apr 13
Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors/NewsGeneral Economic NewsGovernment Layoff NewsUS and some Canada Layoff News
Hiring News and News You Can Use
– Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors & News –
Mike: It looks as if IBM is trying to escape the higher salaries of Europe for the lower salaries of developing countries. So at least we in the US and Canada can take comfort in knowing that IBM is an equal oppotunity job mover, since they are laying off thousands in the US and Canada as well and shipping those jobs to developing countries. This is not intended to be a protectionist screed, but it is telling that a company, like IBM, which in 2008 received $1,622,457,555 (IBM contracts 2008 USAspending.gov) in federal contracts (that doesn’t include state, county, city and other municipal contracts), is inclined to move so many good paying jobs offshore.
– IBM is planning to axe thousands of jobs in Britain, Germany and Ireland as part of a broader move to shift much of its workforce to cheaper outlets in eastern Europe, China, India and South America, the Observer has learned.
“We expect many job cuts in Ireland, Germany and the UK in the coming months,” said Lee Conrad, national co-ordinator for Alliance@IBM, an American advocacy group for IBM workers.
via IBM set to axe thousands in move to cheap labour abroad | Business | The Observer .
– IN a move that would make even the most miserly budget airline operator wince, IBM has cut tea and coffee from the office budget worldwide to cut costs.
IBM Australia sent an email to staff last week telling them it would stop subsidising employees’ home internet connections from May. But workers were gobsmacked to learn that having a cuppa on the company’s tab had also become an unaffordable luxury.
Instead, they were told, they would have to buy drinks from vending machines to be installed at “selected” company sites.
Employees who put in long hours of unpaid overtime to help push the tech giant’s profits up 12 per cent to $US4.4billion during its final quarter of last year have received the news as a slap in the face.
via IBM ‘too poor’ to pay for staff tea | The Australian.
– Mike: All this IBM news reminds me of the Bud Light commercial where the group is sitting around the conference table discussing ways to cut costs. At IBM it must go something like this: First person: We could cut high paying jobs and move them to lower wage countries. CEO: Check. Second person: We can cut free coffee and tea to our valued employees. CEO: Check. Third person: We could cut CEO and executive pay. CEO: Throws person out the window.
– IBM is in the midst of building up its workforce in India while trimming payroll in more mature markets, including the United States. The company now maintains more than 70,000 employees on the subcontinent.
– Microsoft has reacted to the global economic slump by reassigning half of its forward-looking Live Labs staff to other projects around the company. The remaining half will focus solely on Microsoft’s search products, the area that probably offers Microsoft the most room for revenue growth.
– With or without stimulus money, Virginia’s unemployment trust fund is withering.
Even if the state had voted to accept an additional $125.5 million in federal money to expand those eligible for unemployment benefits, the fund would still need bolstering.
“That would have enabled us to go longer without going broke and it would also have enabled us to borrow less money” from the federal government, said Donald Lillywhite, a research analyst with the Virginia Employment Commission.
via State’s jobless fund expected to run dry | Richmond Times-Dispatch.
– The state’s $2.2 billion unemployment insurance program — a safety net crucial to the welfare of jobless Floridians — relies on 35-year-old computer technology that is antiquated, “well beyond its useful life” and at an “ever increasing risk of … failure,” according to documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
The mainframe computer, installed in 1972, is “inherently rigid and difficult to maintain” and costs the state tens of millions of dollars in unemployment overpayments and staff time, says a report by the Agency for Workforce Innovation, which runs the unemployment program.
via Unemployment checks could halt in Florida if old computer bites dust — OrlandoSentinel.com.
Joel Pett - Apr 13
– Detroit –Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. this morning unveiled a “sober yet straightforward” budget to City Council that includes laying off 334 workers and eliminating 504 vacant positions to trim $42 million from the city’s General Fund.
via Cockrel: ‘Sober’ budget calls for 334 layoffs | detnews.com | The Detroit News.
– The gap can be closed, according to a report by Finance Director Ann Marie Ricardi, through days off without pay for employees, salary and benefit reductions, and layoffs.
– US and some Canada Layoff News –
– Mining company Cliffs Natural Resources said it will further cut production of metallurgical coal and layoff an additional 355 workers at its mines as the global economic downturn continues to batter the steel industry and drive down demand.
via Cliffs to slash coal output, affecting 355 jobs – Forbes.com.
– Bankrupt U.S. chicken producer Pilgrim’s Pride Corp (PGPDQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday it will close its Dalton, Georgia, chicken processing plant, a move that affects 280 employees, as it looks for ways to trim costs and become more efficient.
– BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. (AP) – American Colloid Co. has decided to put its Belle Fourche bentonite plant into what the company calls an “idle state of operations.”
via Production to be ‘idle’ at Belle Fouche plant.
– Plano-based Perot Systems Corp. said Friday it has cut 30 to 40 jobs in the Plano area.
– As part of a widespread and deep cost-cutting effort, ArvinMeritor Inc. laid off 250 people in February and March, including 100 at the company’s light vehicle business.
via ArvinMeritor has cut jobs to close two plants | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press.
– KNOXVILLE — Panasonic Electronic Devices, in Knox County, and Eagle Bend Manufacturing Inc., in Clinton, laid off a total of 79 workers at the end of March.
via Panasonic, Eagle Bend cut 79 jobs : Business : Knoxville News Sentinel.
– Scarborough, Ontario (AHN) – Hudson’s Bay Company is set to implement a 1,000 reduction of manpower in its Canada operations announced earlier this year. The number of jobs to be shed is equivalent to 5 percent of HBC’s 60,000 employees spread in 600 stores in North America.
via HBC To Shed 1,000 Jobs In Canada | AHN | April 13, 2009.
– Two companies have announced salary cuts and other cost-containment measures today.
via RegeneRx, PharmEng cut salaries – FierceBiotech.
– PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. says it may curtail production and lay off 275 workers at a smelter in Canada if it’s unable to negotiate a 15-percent pay cut with employees there.
via The Associated Press: Alcoa may slash output, jobs at Canada plant.
– OPELIKA, AL (WTVM) – Officials with Michelin North America announced today it will close its BF Goodrich Tire Manufacturing plant in Opelika by October 31.
The company had previously laid off more than 80 workers in February. The Opelika facility produces BF Goodrich and Uniroyal brand passenger car tires. It employs about 1,000 workers.
via WTVM.com and WTVM News Leader 9, Columbus, GA | Opelika tire plant to shut down.
– MEBANE, N.C. — The GE Consumer and Industrial’s plant in Mebane announced Monday that 100 hourly employees were being laid off.
via 100 Laid Off Mebane GE Plant – Money News Story – WXII The Triad.
– The company reportedly had laid off between 20 and 27 staffers in January.
via Toon Site MyToons Logs Off | Animation Magazine.
– Law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP has laid off 15 attorneys and 22 staff members, a firm official confirmed Monday.
via- http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/04/13/daily6.html
– The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce laid off about 20 percent of its work force on April 7, chamber officials said.
The organization, which had 58 employees before the cuts, said economy-related declines in membership, event participation and sponsorship prompted the staff cuts.
via Las Vegas Business Press :: News : LV Chamber lays off 20 percent of staff.
– Railroad-car manufacturer FreightCar America Inc. announced Monday afternoon that it plans to suspend production at its Roanoke manufacturing plant when workers complete their current work orders.
via FreightCar America plans ‘temporary suspension’ of production in Roanoke – Roanoke.com.
– Finch Paper in Glens Falls, which employs 780 people, announced today it will eliminate 57 blue-collar jobs in its mill.
via Finch cutting mill jobs –– Page 1 — Times Union – Albany NY.
– Ten full-time employees at the Hino Motors facility in Williamstown are now out of work.
via Layoffs at Hino Motors .
– April 12 (Bloomberg) — International Business Machines Corp. plans to cut “thousands” of staff in the U.K., Germany and Ireland as it shifts jobs to eastern Europe, China, India and South America, the Observer reported.
via IBM to Cut Thousands of Jobs in Western Europe, Observer Says – Bloomberg.com .
– April 13 (Bloomberg) — Spanish airline Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA will cut 1,200 jobs at its airport-services unit as it seeks to return it to profit, Expansion reported.
– T-Mobile’s UK call centers may face the axe after the firm has resolved to outsource the operations to call centers in Philippines. The operations in UK are spread across three offices- with two in Scotland, which are managed by Telecom Service Centres (TSC) and the third in Yorkshire.
– NZZ am Sonntag said Switzerland would also be hit hard this time, with job cuts among the 26,400 due to be announced on April 22, unnamed sources said.
Swiss newspaper Sonntag said last month that the world’s largest wealth manager in terms of assets would cut a further 8,000 jobs.
via UBS to announce more job cuts soon -media | Markets | US Markets | Reuters .
– Chip PC states that it intends to cut expenditures by NIS 700,000 a month through salary reductions and the laying off of about ten employees. The company had about 70 employees at the end of 2008.
– Hiring News and News You Can Use –
– Job hunting sucks. And while you might be kicking yourself if your expensive AT&T data contract outlasted your last job, you can actually put that data plan and iPhone to work for you in your job hunt.
For instance, you’ll be the first to see new job listings as you browse through CareerBuilder listings in the supermarket checkout line. You’ll always have an electronic résumé and business card on hand, ready to send to any contact you meet with beamME CV. And you’ll have access to tons of finance tools like Mint, ensuring that you always stay within your budget, no matter how tight it might be.
via The Best iPhone Apps for the Unemployed – Reviews by PC Magazine.
– LAS CRUCES — A project director for Spaceport America says the first of 13 bid packages for construction of the nation’s first inland commercial facility for orbital flights will be released in about two weeks.
John Roberts said all 13 bid packages will be released by June.
via Spaceport offers jobs during construction in New Mexico – El Paso Times .
– About 340 jobs are available at the new Wal-Mart Super Center in Logan, which is set to open in mid-June.
via New Logan Wal-Mart looking to fill 340 jobs – ABC 4.com .
– A Fort Worth, Texas-based meat-processing company plans to open a manufacturing plant in Nashville that will eventually employ 250 people.
via Texas meat processor to hire 250 people for Nashville plant | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean.
– Governor extends jobless benefits 7 weeks
Mike: A relatively calm Monday for larger layoff announcements. Monday seems to be quieter for layoff announcements than the remaining weekdays, but I hope it’s a trend that we can all enjoy. See you Tuesday, and don’t forget to get those tax forms ready for the deadline on April 15. …..
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Steve Breen - Apr 13
