Bad news
Fifty thousand job losses in two weeks.
It has been a grim two weeks around the world with plenty of big name companies letting go employees. Below are just a summary of the ones that caught the news.
Russia’s AvtoVAZ plan to layoff 27000 employees to improve performance at a factory that has been clobbered by the sharp drop in demand for cars.
OCI Chemical Corp layoffs 38 employees
Ashland Inc plans to cut 1800 jobs
True Textile layoffs 84 workers
Verizon Communications cuts 8000 jobs
Power-One cuts 300 jobs
GE Consumer & Industrial to close Kentucky plant 125 jobs lost
ATK Space Systems to cut 450 jobs in October
Contec Holdings layoffs 132 workers
Amgen layoffs 100 employees
Hartford Financial Services cuts 270 jobs
Portola Tech International layoffs 130 employees
IMS Health plans to cut 850 jobs
Air Products and Chemicals to cut 1150 jobs
Minerals Technologies plans to cut 200 jobs
Stanley Works cuts 200 jobs worldwide
Flash Networks layoffs 40 cuts salary for others
Bell Helicopter layoffs 150 workers in Canada
Branson Ultrasonics to close Honeoye Falls plant 46 jobs lost
GE Oil and Gas layoffs 93 employees
Law firm Dechert cuts 25 jobs
American Coal Company layoffs 37 workers
Siemens plans to cut 1400 jobs in Europe
Avon to cut 1200 jobs
Pratt & Whitney to cut 1000 jobs in Connecticut
Yahoo to cut 675 jobs
Alliance Resource Partners layoffs 72 employees
Assurant Employee Benefits plans to cut 91 jobs
Hardinge layoffs 50 workers
Intel plans to layoff 294 employees in Ireland
US Airways plans to cut 34 jobs at General Mitchell International Airport
Belden to close Mass. plant lay off 170
Erica Lyons to lay off 75 close Miami facility
Continental Airlines cuts 1700 jobs
Gemini Manufacturing Corp to layoff 81 workers
Carlisle Tire & Wheel to close North College Street plant 340 jobs at stake
Cygnus Business Media cuts 50 jobs
Buckeye Partners layoffs 260 employees
Microdyne to close Groveport center layoffs 78
Arizona Attorney General’s Office cuts 29 jobs
Kimberly-Clark cuts 750 jobs
D.C.’s Department of Mental Health layoffs 120 employees
Harley-Davidson Financial Services cuts 100 jobs
Source: Layoff Tracker
Total losses = 50392
3000 people lose their jobs every day in recession.
Source: Flickr 19598520@N00/2967191227
Source: Graham Hicott of the Mirror
More than 3000 people a day are joining the ranks of the unemployed as the recession tightens its grip. The jobless total surged by a record 281,000 to almost 2.4 million in the three months to May.
The increase – taking the number out of work to the highest for 14 years – was described as “truly horrendous” by experts. And the tally worsened yesterday as car giant Jaguar announced 300 job losses with plans to cease production of the X-Type at its Halewood factory on Merseyside.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said:
People are paying a very high price for this bankers’ recession as unemployment heads back to the three million seen in the Tory years. The news that Goldman Sachs intend to restart paying billions in bonuses to bankers adds insult to injury.
The figures showed unemployment at 7.6% to the end of May – but it is feared to have gone even higher since. In June, the number claiming dole was up 23,800 to 1.56 million.
Yesterday’s report from the Office for National Statistics revealed youth unemployment at a 16-year high of 726,000.
The number of people out of work for longer than a year also rose by 46,000 to 528,000, the highest for 11 years. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said threatened public spending cuts could only make things worse, while The Prince’s Trust warned of dire consequences for young people.
Chief executive Martina Milburn said:
Another young person is added to Britain’s dole queue nearly every minute of every day. We need to help them into work before they become a lost generation.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May said unemployment cast a “dark cloud over the economy.” But Employment Minister Jim Knight said there was hope, with the UK figures better than in the US, Germany and France.
He said:
Through investing now, fewer people are getting stuck on benefit for months and years.
Cruvic is not becoming a scam victim.
Everyone knows the scams “You have won X hundred thousand pounds or dollars” and you need to send your details to some dodgy Nigerian at some ridiculously false address. Well here is another one, although this time they are being quite crafty by using Google the popular search engine as the rewarders of the prize money. Definitely a scam (no doubt) as you just have to look at the return address or Sender Details.
Anyhoo here is the email.
Rich alcoholic smokers should pay the most tax!
It finally happened. The super rich workers in the UK earning £150 000 or more are going to be taxed 50% from April 2010. How sorry I feel for these “poor” rich people…..NOT!
For many years now it seems the rich have gotten richer because they are able to stash their cash into foreign bank accounts where tax is a lot less than the UK, or they hide behind loop holes that prevent them from paying high tax. It is always the middle man (the not so rich nor not so poor man) that seems to end up being screwed by the tax man and every other stealth tax under the sun.
The problem with the announcement today is that a lot of wealthy talented foreign people living and working in the UK will simply up sticks and leave to avoid paying the high tax, which means the country as a whole will lose out on exceptional talent. One has to accept that good talented people cost money and in most cases deserve their huge salaries, but where does one draw the line?
No one likes paying taxes, but it should be fair, and currently I believe the rich are not paying their fair share.
On top of all that, if one takes all the top traders, managers, directors and CEO’s of these doomed hedge funds, investment banks, and banks, why should they get away with screwing up the banking system and not paying for their bad decisions and judgements calls?
On another positive note I see they are increasing the tax on cigarettes and alcohol. Hit them where it hurts the most I say!
Negative RPI pushes UK into deflation.
The Retail Price Index fell below 0% today meaning the UK is official in deflation. This doesn’t really mean much to most people but millions could be affected as RPI is used as a marker for private sector wage levels and the basis for rises in state pension payments and other benefits. (Oh dear, as if we need to hear more bad news)?
Deflation according to wikipedia is defined as a sustained, generalised fall in prices across the economy.
Companies laying off employees week ending 17/04/2009.
It was another miserable week around the world with plenty of lay offs taking place.
Please note: I get my information from many web sites and news resources. If anything is deemed to be inaccurate, or wrong, then please drop me an email crunchvictims@gmail.com and I will make the necessary changes.
Teradyne Inc. Apr 17, 350
Playworld Systems Apr 17, 38
Sony Ericsson Mobile Apr 17, 2000
Boeing Apr 17, 120
Seymour Tubing Inc. Apr 17, 86
Carlyle & Co. Apr 17, 90
Harley-Davidson Apr 16, 70
ABX Air, Inc. Apr 16, 518
Observer & Eccentric newspapers Apr 16, 44
Ritz Camera Centers Apr 16, 63
Somaxon Pharmaceuticals Apr 15, 7
Air France-KLM Airlines April 15, 2500-3000
Tribune Apr 14, 90
The HOMAC Companies Apr 14, 54
Cisco Systems Apr 14, 1500 10%
Hallmark Cards, Inc. Apr 14, 750
MEMC Electronic Materials Apr 14, 200
ArcelorMittal Apr 13, 400
Owens-Illinois Apr 12, 400
LyondellBasell Apr 11, 3000
InfoSys Apr 11, 2100
CB&I Constructors Apr 10, 80
American Republic Apr 10, 30
Lehigh Southwest Central Apr 10, 40
LyondellBasell Apr 9, 3000
Russian Railways Apr 8, 53700
Total losses = 69030
Holiday over!
We are back from a few days off over Easter. All the depressing news of job losses, recession, credit crunch victims does get to one after a while. So I am well rested and ready for the next lot of bad news. (sorry!)
First Quarter Job Losses by major companies.
Company Name | Date of | Number of | Percent of Work Force
Anglo Platinum 02/09/2009 10000 13%
KV Pharmaceutical 02/09/2009 700
N/A Nissan Motor 02/08/2009 20000 8%
Apartment Investment 02/06/2009 300 5%
Allis-Chalmers 02/06/2009 235 8%
Merix Corp. 02/06/2009 230 6%
International Rectifier 02/05/2009 850 18%
Power-One Inc. 02/05/2009 1000 22%
Bombardier 02/05/2009 1360 4.5%
Estee Lauder 02/05/2009 2000 6%
Talbots Inc. 02/05/2009 370 17% -p
Time Warner Cable 02/04/2009 1250 3%
THQ Inc. 02/04/2009 350 16%
Harman International 02/04/2009 1110 9.4%
Finisair Corp. 02/04/2009 200 17% ON
Semiconductor Corp. 02/04/2009 350 3%
Panasonic 02/04/2009 15000 5%
Allergan 02/04/2009 560 5%
Electronic Arts Inc. 02/03/2009 1100 11%
PNC Financial Services 02/03/2009 5800 10%
King Pharmaceuticals 02/03/2009 760 22%
Liz Claiborne 02/03/2009 725 8%
SAS 02/03/2009 3000 13% -n
Huntington Bancshares 02/03/2009 500 4%
Atlas Copco 02/02/2009 3000 9%
QAD Inc. 02/02/2009 125 8%
Macy’s 02/02/2009 7000 4%
NEC 01/30/2009 20000 7%
Hitachi 01/30/2009 7000 2%
Sears Holdings Corp 01/30/2009 300 -l 4.34% -m
Electro Scientific 01/30/2009 84 11.9%
IDT Corp. 01/30/2009 146 8.5% A.H.
Belo Corp. 01/30/2009 500 14%
Tribune Co. 01/30/2009 300 -k N/A
Caterpillar 01/30/2009 22110 -j N/A
Baldwin Technology 01/30/2009 80 12%
American Axle 01/30/2009 3000 N/A
Pep Boys 01/30/2009 50 N/A
KCOM Group Plc 01/30/2009 150 N/A
Chartered Semiconductor 01/29/2009 600 8%
Alexza Pharmaceuticals 01/29/2009 52 33%
International Game Tech 01/29/2009 200 10%
Charles Schwab Corp. 01/29/2009 500-600 3.7%-4.5%
Chico’s FAS 01/29/2009 180 11% -i
Eddie Bauer Holdings 01/29/2009 193 15% -h
Black & Decker 01/29/2009 1200 5%
Bon-Ton Stores Inc. 01/29/2009 1150 3%
Zygo Corp 01/29/2009 NA 7%
Accuray Inc. 01/29/2009 60 13% -g
Broadcom Corp. 01/29/2009 300 3%
Eastman Kodak 01/29/2009 4500 18%
AstraZeneca 01/29/2009 7400 11%
Ford Motor Credit 01/28/2009 1200 20%
Analogic Corp. 01/28/2009 140 9%
Ferro Corp. 01/28/2009 125 2% -f
Avocent Corp. 01/28/2009 170 8%
Boeing Co. 01/28/2009 10000 6% -d
Bowne & Co. 01/28/2009 200 6%
Sepracor Inc. 01/28/2009 530 20%
Allstate Corp. 01/28/2009 1000 -e 2.6%
Cabot Corp. 01/28/2009 500 12%
Skyworks Solutions 01/28/2009 150 4%
Citrix Systems 01/28/2009 N/A 10%
Jabil Circuit 01/28/2009 3000 4.92%
AOL 01/28/2009 700 10%
Starbucks 01/28/2009 6700 4%
SAP 01/28/2009 3000 6%
STMicroelectronics 01/28/2009 4500 9%
Avery Dennison 01/27/2009 N/A 10%
Baker Hughes 01/27/2009 1500 4%
Corning 01/27/2009 3500 13%
Cooper Industries 01/27/2009 2200 7%
Clariant 01/27/2009 1000 5%
Texas Instruments 01/26/2009 3400 12%
Home Depot 01/26/2009 7000 2%
Sprint Nextel 01/26/2009 8000 13%
Pfizer 01/26/2009 8300 10%
ING 01/26/2009 7000 5%
Philips Electronics 01/26/2009 6000 5%
Corus 01/26/2009 3500 10%
Harley-Davidson 01/23/2009 1100 11%
Microsoft 01/22/2009 5000 5%
Huntsman 01/22/2009 1175 9%
Intel 01/21/2009 6000 -c 7%
UAL 01/21/2009 1000 2%
Eaton 01/20/2009 5200 6%
Bose 01/20/2009 1000 10%
Rohm & Haas 01/20/2009 900 5.7%
Clear Channel 01/20/2009 1850 9%
ConocoPhillips 01/16/2009 1300 4%
Circuit City 01/16/2009 34000 100% -a
Pfizer 01/16/2009 3200 -b 3%
AMD 01/16/2009 1100 9%
Hertz Global Holdings 01/16/2009 4000 13%
Wellpoint 01/16/2009 1500 3.6%
Saks 01/15/2009 1100 9%
MeadWestvaco 01/15/2009 2000 10%
Autodesk 01/15/2009 750 10%
Motorola 01/14/2009 4000 6%
Barclays 01/14/2009 2100 1.3%
Neiman Marcus 01/13/2009 375 3%
Cummins 01/13/2009 800 2%
Seagate Technology 01/12/2009 800 10%
Cessna 01/12/2009 2000 N/A
Walgreen 01/08/2009 1000 9% -o
Lenovo Group 01/08/2009 2500 11%
EMC 01/07/2009 2400 7%
Logitech International 01/06/2009 500 5%
Alcoa 01/06/2009 15000 14.5%
Cigna 01/05/2009 1100 4%
a. Company in liquidation
b. Includes announcements of 2,400 cuts on Jan. 16 and 800 layoffs on Jan. 13.
c. Number of employees affected by plant closures, not all will lose jobs
d. Includes Jan. 9 announcement of 4,500 layoffs from commercial-airplane staff
e. Reductions to come over the next two years
f. Cut in Limoges, France manufacturing plant
g. Percentage of U.S. work force
h. Percentage of non-retail staff
i. Percentage of headquarters staff
j. Includes 20,000 job cuts announced Jan. 26 and 2,110 announced Jan. 30
k. All cuts from Los Angeles Times
l. Approximate number of corporate staff cuts
m. Percentage of cuts made to corporate staff
n. The work force will be reduced by another 5,600 staff as divisions are divested or outsourced.
o. The percentage represents cuts made to eligible corporate positions and certain field-management positions
p. Percent of corporate-level jobs.
Companies laying off employees week ending 27/03/2009.
It’s been another turbulent week around the world with many companies laying off people. Nothing like bad news to start off a fine weekend. 
Had a chuckle when I saw this poster recently. Apparently it was posted on a pole outside of Holburn Station. Sir Fred is really getting the rough end of the stick (and rightly so, the big crook).
- Google let go 200 of their workers in a surprise “Second Round Of Layoffs”.
- Nelson Pine Industries confirmed they were making 57 workers redundant. Based in New Zealand, NPI manufacturers laminated veneer lumber and medium density fiber board. They blamed new technology on the lay offs.
- The New York Times are laying off 100 people.
- Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG who produce printing presses will be laying off 2500 workers in Germany this year it was announced on Thursday.
- The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) are to make 800 staff redundant.
- Bank of America cut 150 employees from its Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management.
- Old Second National Bank laid off 62 employees.
- Insurance firm Legal and General is set to make 650 redundancies
- Churchill Financial cut one-third of its employees.
- Freeport Financial laid off (19 unconfirmed) most of its 23 employees.
- Madison Capital laid off 7 employees.
- Dymas Capital laid off 10 employees.
- Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge are laying off 60 employees.
Total losses = 4615
Here is a list by the New York Times. They are tracking job losses in the New York and surrounding areas.
Other companies laying off people.
- Bloomers lays off 127 workers. Bloomers makes components for diesel engines.
- Barneys New York is eliminating 76 positions. From sales people to corporate executives, the cuts are wide-ranging. The retailer said the cuts were effective Monday.
- In Houston, that city’s only daily, the Chronicle has announced it has begun laying off about 12 percent of its work force. At present there is no exact number on how many will go.
- Hunton & Williams is on the verge of big layoffs, says Above the Law. It seems the firm has been quietly laying off partners in the last two months, recently froze associate salaries, and offered an early retirement program of unknown scope to staff.
- General Motors Corp. starts laying off white-collar workers as part of its restructuring plan, with 160 people losing jobs at its technical center in Warren, Mich.
- Los Angeles Times photographer Lori Shepler, photo editor Tracy Silveria and video journalist John Vande Wege have been laid off. The paper is owned by the Tribune company, which is in bankruptcy. You can find the letters from some of the above people telling the world they have been laid off.
- New York Gov. David Paterson has ordered that more than 4 percent or 8900 of state government workers be laid off. The total workforce is over 200000.
- Dell’s Limerick closure to cause 9500 job losses.
- The rate at which architects are joining the dole has accelerated to a year-on-year increase of 760%, it has emerged.
- The Newseum, the news museum in Washington DC was forced to make 13 job cuts last week as a result of funding cuts.
- Transport For London said 1000 posts will go at London Underground, including some lost after maintenance work was brought back in-house following the collapse of Metronet, and another several hundred at Transport for London.
- Removals company Pickfords could go through a pre-pack administration putting more than 1000 jobs at risk, despite only being rescued 12 months ago.
- A Newcastle law firm Watson Burton says it is looking at cutting about 75 staff.
- Kaleidoscope Travel Group has been forced to lay off 60 staff at Travelsphere and Page & Moy after weakening demand for escorted tours.
Total losses = 20898
142000 jobs lost on-year in Korea.
Korea lost jobs at the fastest on-year rate in the last half decade in February, despite state-sponsored “job-sharing” efforts, according to the National Statistics Office yesterday.
Manufacturers, financial companies, restaurants – nearly every industry cut jobs in a battle against the worsening economy.
The job loss comes as the country is on track to record the worst on-year quarterly gross domestic product growth in more than 10 years.
Madoff should get life (in hell).
It seems the old man is going to be sentenced to life in prison (what is the point?) when he pleads guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering tomorrow. When he is found guilty he will be most likely sent to a white collared state penitentiary, where there will be no locks on the doors (something similar to what he has at the moment in his house arrest) at his $7m dollar pent house.
Where is the punishment? This man should be made to dig holes in the Sahara desert for the rest of his life, rather than sit in a cushy prison. He should not have any luxuries what so ever.
Here are a list of the crimes he will be prosecuted for:
SECURITIES FRAUD (1 COUNT) Alleges Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme out of his investment firm for more than 25 years. Penalty: 20 years
INVESTMENT ADVISER FRAUD (1 COUNT) Alleges that as investment adviser, Madoff defrauded his clients for more than 25 years. Penalty: 5 years
MAIL FRAUD (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff used the mail to perpetrate his fraud. Penalty: 20 years
WIRE FRAUD (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff used wire communication such as the telephone, faxes and computers to carry out his fraud. Penalty: 20 years.
INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff transferred funds from his business in New York to his offices in London and back again to carry out a fraud. Penalty: 20 years
INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING (1 COUNT) Alleges Madoff transferred funds back and forth to Europe to disguise their nature as proceeds of a crime. Penalty: 20 years
MONEY LAUNDERING (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff diverted more than $54 million from an employee benefit fund. Penalty: 10 years.
FALSE STATEMENTS (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff gave false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Penalty: 5 years
PERJURY (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff gave false testimony to the SEC under oath in 2006. Penalty: 5 years.
FALSE FILING (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff filed false documents with the SEC in 2007. Penalty: 20 years
THEFT FROM AN EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff stole $10 million in funds from pension plans of 35 labor unions. Penalty: 5 years.
Fred Goodwin is a Crunch Victim.
Matt Roper of the Mirror.co.uk has done an interesting article today on two people with the same name who have lost their jobs recently. We know the one as Sir Fred Goodwin “the shred” (the boss of RBS who brought the Royal Bank of Scotland to its knees with record losses of £24billion) and the other is just a normal guy called Fred Goodwin who is an innocent victim of the economic crisis engulfing the country.
Sir Fred draws a massive £13000-a-week pension, his namesake struggles to get by on a £60.50 weekly jobseekers’ allowance.
The 56-year-old dad-of-two reckons the greedy banker should hand back some of his windfall, paid for by taxpayers after the Government’s bail-out of the bank.
Fred said:
He should see what life’s really like for ordinary people who are suffering because of what he did. He wouldn’t even last a minute.
The ironic thing is I’ve never been sacked for doing a bad job. Yet he gets paid off with the kind of money I could only dream of, while I could end up losing everything.I’ve thought a lot about what I would do if I was in his shoes, but although I’d be tempted to take the money and stuff everyone else, I honestly don’t think I’d be able to do it and still live with myself. Not after inflicting so much pain on so many people.
Maybe if Sir Fred came and lived with me for a week he’d think again about it too.
Personally I think sir Fred Goodwin should:
- Lose his title as he certainly does not deserve to be a “Sir”.
- Hand back all the bonuses, incentives he has received in the past.
- Waiver his pension since he has made enough money off RBS over the years.
- Go to jail – do not pass this problem onto the tax payer, do not collect a massive pension.
Unemployment to soar in the UK to over 3 million.
Nothing like a bit of bad news to get back into the swing of things. 
According to Sky News unemployment in the UK is going to soar to over 3 million next year. Strangely enough all the economists were predicting a smooth ride just a few months ago, but that has all changed now.
UK prospects have worsened significantly since our last forecast in January. We are now predicting much larger UK GDP declines. Consequently, we now expect bigger unemployment increases and larger budget deficits. Unless the huge falls in UK capital investment are halted and reversed, the UK’s productive potential will be seriously weakened.
What gets me, is these economists are meant to know what they are talking about, so back in January when they did their initial forecast, surely they could see then that businesses and life in general was going to get a lot worse before it got better. Not that it would have changed anything, but still, it would save them looking silly now. It doesn’t take a degree to see things are bad.
Puerto Rico to lay off 30000 public sector workers.
Amid one of the worst economic crises in history, Puerto Rico’s governor recently announced plans to eliminate 30000 public sector jobs.
Total losses = 30000
