Mike: Good day to all. Today is starting out quiet for layoff announcements and the economic calendar is light, so here’s the latest news:
Mike: Bailing out these financially and ethically bankrupt institutions was a huge waste of trillions of taxpayer dollars, yet the bailouts continue to drain taxpayer funds that could be used for worthwhile causes that produce jobs. The way things have gone so far, the feds will give BOA the $4 billion, so BOA can give it back to the feds.
“The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.“
via Lord Acton Quote/Quotation
– Regulators contend Bank of America owes at least part of a $4 billion fee it agreed to pay in January — even without a completed legal document — because the company benefited from implied U.S. backing on about $118 billion of Merrill Lynch assets, such as mortgage-backed bonds, people familiar with the matter said. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank says it owes the Treasury nothing, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.
Bank of America, ranked first by assets and deposits in the U.S., “got a moral commitment for insurance without tendering a check, so it appears they got something for nothing,” said Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. “If the government takes the risk, the government needs to be paid.”
via Bank of America Said to Balk at Paying Backstop Fee (Update2) – Bloomberg.com.
Jeff Stahler
-
Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors/News
General Economic News
Government Layoff News
US and some Canada Layoff News
International Layoff News
Hiring News and News You Can Use
– Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors & News –
– There have been many reports today (Friday) regarding the Thomas Weisel call for more layoffs out of Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), which was never really clear or certain if the layoffs were new or were part of an earlier round of layoffs. The 1,500 to 2,000 layoffs have been clarified to us by an external Cisco spokesperson. While it is true that the layoffs have been ongoing and while some workers might still be getting pink slips as a part of this, these layoffs are not a new development and are a part of what has already been telegraphed.
-NEW YORK — In what could be his first test in office, pay czar Kenneth Feinberg will decide whether to give beleaguered global insurer American International Group approval to pay out $2.4 million this week, and another pending $235 million in retention bonuses in coming months, to its employees.
When AIG paid $165 million in retention bonuses in March, there was widespread public outrage because the government had bailed it out with more than $180 billion in taxpayers’ money. CEO Edward Liddy appealed to employees to return at least half of those bonuses as he was given a dressing down by lawmakers at a congressional hearing. Liddy has since decided to step down.
via Pay czar Feinberg looks at over $200 million in AIG bonuses – USATODAY.com.
Stuart Carlson
Mike: I’m not sure why TIME belittles a Frech workers threat to blow up a plant unless a severence package is provided. Seems to me that this is a serious action contemplated by these workers and if it was US workers, TIME would call it an act of terrorism and not Protesting US Workers Do the Darndest Things. No wonder TIME magazine sales are in the trash:
In the latest episode of Protesting French Workers Do the Darndest Things, laid-off employees at the New Fabris car parts factory have come up with a novel method of negotiating their severance pay. Either they’re given $41,000 per employee as part of the company’s closure, they warn, or they’ll blow the entire plant to smithereens.
via French Workers Facing Layoffs Threaten Explosive Action – TIME.
– – Reducing enrollment is part of a budget-cutting strategy that will probably include faculty layoffs and employee furloughs, Chancellor Charles Reed told trustees earlier this week.
CSU also will find ways to reduce enrollment by another 9 percent over the next two years, Keith said. One approach will be to shorten application deadlines.
-The Knox County Health Department will lay off seven employees as a result of the state’s uncertain budget.
via Health department to lay off 7 – Galesburg, IL – The Register-Mail.
– One full-time and three part-time positions at the Kedron Fieldhouse and Aquatic Center are on the chopping block at Thursday night’s meeting of the Peachtree City Council.
via PTC to cut 4 jobs at Kedron fieldhouse | The Citizen Online.
-—The Nolanville City Council voted Monday morning to cut six jobs, including three patrol officer positions, in order to keep the community afloat, but Nolanville’s accountant told council members more cuts will need to be made in order to continue paying the bills.
via Local Council Cuts Six City Jobs Including Three Police Positions.13:53:57
– State budget cuts have caused 166 layoffs of state employees in the just-begun fiscal year.
– As the negotiations continue in Springfield, Progress Illinois plans to track the ongoing fallout statewide. But we need your help. If you hear of further cuts and layoffs by social services agencies — either directly or via news reports — please send that information to contact@progressillinois.com so that we can add it to our list.
Below is a map of the affected organizations we’ve identified so far, followed by the full list. (Click here to explore a larger version of the map.)
# of affected agencies identified: 73
Minimum # of employees given layoff notices: 1,524
Minimum # of clients affected: 13,923
via Tracking The State Budget Fallout (With Your Help!) | Progress Illinois.13:57:29
The following map can be accessed at Tracking The State Budget Fallout (With Your Help!) | Progress Illinois
– US and some Canada Layoff News –
– Casting doubt on the future of one of the Bay Area’s largest manufacturing employers, Toyota Motor said Friday that it may end production at the giant NUMMI auto plant in Fremont, now that longtime partner General Motors has decided to abandon the joint venture that runs the facility.
The decision threatens 4,700 jobs at the 5.3-million-square-foot factory, as well as numerous parts suppliers and millions of dollars a year in payrolls around the Bay Area. The plant is also a significant contributor to the city of Fremont’s budget, paying $1.9 million in property taxes and $280,000 in other taxes, according to the city’s finance director.
via Toyota says it may shut down Fremont’s NUMMI auto plant – San Jose Mercury News.
– WEST POINT, Miss.—Navistar, a manufacturer of blast resistant military vehicles, has announced it will lay off 275 workers, leaving 200 employees at its West Point plant.
– Now 275 employees join thousands of other Kansans looking for work and worrying about the future. But two Great Bend organizations are working on a program they hope can help.
– Tom Kane, shop steward for Teamsters Local 115, said 100 of his members at the three plants would lose their jobs. Twenty nonunion employees would be affected as well, according to the company filing.
via Maax USA closing 3 Bucks sites | Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/10/2009.
– Victoriaville Caskets has a staff of 30 doing artisinal work. Both groups are unionized, but the Victoriaville Caskets workers will lose their jobs.
via Sign of the times: Coffin maker closing up shop .
– The Proctor and Gamble Company announced Tuesday that it will close its Lithia Springs Nioxin plant next year, resulting in the loss of 112 jobs.
via Times-Georgian – Nioxin closing next year 112 jobs affected.
– MASSENA — On Monday, 113 aluminum workers will not be returning to their jobs at Alcoa’s Massena East plant as the company begins implementing a round of layoffs it announced in late March.
via Watertown Daily Times | Alcoa to implement layoffs at East plant Monday.
– A Fort Wayne plant that makes aerial-lift platforms is closing, putting 64 employees out of a job, according to a notice the company’s owner sent state officials.
via Altec to close_ end 64 jobs | The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Ind..13:53:23
– Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC laid off 91 more employees from its Bloomington, Ill., off-the-road tire plant on July 12, following the completion of an extended one-week shut down.
via Bridgestone lays off 91 plant employees – News – Modern Tire Dealer .20:23:43
– Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota on Monday said it is laying off about 100 of its roughly 4,000 workers.
via Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota lays off 100 – Triangle Business Journal: .20:24:08
– The first round of layoffs at the Rexam plant in Hamlet will involve nine stock handlers, city and county officials were recently informed.
– ALMOST a hundred workers are to lose their jobs at Warwickshire luxury car firm Aston Martin.
via Coventry Telegraph – News – Coventry News – More redundancies at Aston Martin.
– MORE than 500 jobs are to be lost as Oxfordshire County Council attempts to reduce its budget by £60million over the next five years.
– Siemens Information Systems, a business unit of Siemens India, part of German technology giant Siemens is understood to have laid off around 500 people over the last five days.
– The redundancy exercise within Telecom Fiji Limited to lay off 177 workers around the country will be completed by this afternoon with some spending their last day at work today.
via FijiVillage.com – Fiji’s home on the world wide web.
– Flagship UK production company Working Title is understood to be making up to six redundancies from its 45-strong workforce.
via Working Title to make redundancies | News | Screen.
– Finland-based Ahlstrom Corp., which operates a major plant in Windsor Locks, is closing one Italian plant and shutting down a production line in a second plant. The move will result in the elimination of 48 jobs, company officials said in an announcement on the company Web site last week.
– Hiring News and News You Can Use–
– After two months of silence, sparks will fly again Monday at the General Motors Assembly Plant in Arlington.
The Arlington plant’s parking lot was empty after General Motors closed 13 of its North American factories for 60 days starting in May, one of the longest shutdowns outside of a strike. Workers will resume production of SUVs in Arlington on Monday.
The factory’s 2,400 workers will come to work for the first time since May 18, welding and bolting together Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade SUVs.
– www.UnitedWeWork.org is a nationwide recruiting service designed to stimulate hiring in America by connecting job seekers and employers without any recruiting fees whatsoever. Any job seeker can join and be hired for free. Any employer can easily find, contact and hire any job seeker without cost. United We Work is provided through AllianceQ, and principal partners include 7-Eleven, ADP, Allstate, AT&T, Hewitt, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Office Depot, Sears Holdings, and Starbucks. United We Work is powered by QuietAgent, a next-generation job matching network. For more information or to join visit www.UnitedWeWork.org
– Among the 50 largest cities in the U.S., one stands out for having the most abundant job postings per capita: Washington, D.C. The nation’s capital boasted 133 postings per 1,000 residents in the second quarter of 2009, according to a report by Indeed.com, a broad job search engine that combs company and association websites, job boards, newspapers, and blogs for postings. That Washington took the top spot is no great surprise, as government hiring has held up during the recession.
The runner up is Baltimore, Md., which is aided by its close proximity to Washington, but also boasts an economy fueled by recession-hearty industries like healthcare and higher education. Baltimore’s unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in May, well below the 9.4 percent national average that month.
via 10 Cities With the Most Job Postings Per Capita – Yahoo! News.
– BARSTOW • Despite an overall flagging economy, business is booming at the Marine Corps Logistics Base — so much so that officials say they are looking to immediately hire between 400 to 600 workers.
The positions will mainly be temporary one year, entry-level positions at the MCLB’s Maintenance Center in Yermo, according to Frank Alston, head of the center’s production department.
Mike: Today featured a relatively quiet day for layoff announcements and I hope the same holds true for tomorrow. Till then……………….
Ed Stein
