Timesizing® Associates - HOMEPAGE

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Downsizings, Nov. 1-15, 2001
[Commentary] ©2001 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Square, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080

11/15/2001  '15 on the 15th' downsizings, totaling 37,349 jobcuts + unspecified, reported in NYT & BG -

1. VF, jeans maker, to cut work force by 18%, AP via NYT, C4.
   The VF Corp., which makes apparel that includes Lee and Wrangler jeans, is cutting about 13,000 jobs...as part of a restructuring aimed at increasing profits by focusing on fewer businesses. The company [is] based in Greensboro, NC.... It...plans to close three factories in the Martinsville area by the end of 2002. It employs 71,500 people worldwide....

2. Credit layoffs, Bloomberg via BG, E2.
   American Express Co. will fire more than 7,700 employees as the 4th-largest US credit card issuer pares spending in a faltering economy, a regulatory filing said.
   [And of course, that will make the economy falter a little faster, since the whole reason it's faltering in the first place is pared spending, spending pared because we've so weakened the bargaining power of the average Joe and Jane by automation and a frozen pre-automation workweek that income has defaulted to the top income brackets in unspendable megaclumps. So falter faster, little economy - maybe our pea-brained B-schools, economists and CEOs will wake up to the timesizing imperative = pare the workweek to spread income and maintain spending, or watch your economy falter and fall. It really is about time our economists woke up to worktime not only as an economic variable, not only as an economic control variable, but as the economic control variable of our lifetime. Wakey, wakey, boys and girls. Earn your pay for a change. We're sick and tired of hearing about idealistic young people going into economics to help the world and coming out of the mind-dulling econ depts. focused, like the older sheep, on making maximum investments of energy at points of minimal returns in human progress. (Yes, we're talking about our record homeless and prison populations, for starters.) Just because it's highly mathematized doesn't mean it's any less superficial, unscientific, and irrelevant to the mainline of human progress.]

3. Citigroup to fire 7,800, mostly in Mexico, Bloomberg via BG, E6.
   ...to reduce costs after its $12.5B purchase of Mexico's Grupo Financiero Banamex SA.
   [Again the fatal takeover-downsizing connection. NYT caught this story tomorrow in "Citigroup plans to cut 7,800 jobs, mostly in Mexico," AP via 11/16/2001 NYT, C4.]
   Last month, Banamex said 2,700 employees would be cut..\..
   [These were not picked up by NYT or BG and so not counted by us.]
   Citigroup Inc., the largest US financial services company...now expects to eliminate about 3,600 jobs at Banamex and 4,200 at Citigroup [including] about 50 US positions....
   In August, the company...planned to fire about 3,500 people in the coming year....
   [And we did count those 3500 of the current 4200(+3600=7800) on 8/14 #2, so we need to deduct them from the 7800, giving us 7800-3500= 4300 jobcuts to count now (made up of 3600 Banamex and the (4200-3500=) 700 yet uncounted Citigroup cuts). But there is one more adjustment to make. We just "put it together" that our Q1 estimate of 400 Citigroup cuts [ 4/4 #5] was 800 short, so we'll throw in that 800 now and come up with 4300+800= 5,100 jobcuts to count at this opportunity.]

4. New evidence of a downturn for economies across Europe, by Edmund Andrews, (W1,) W7.
   ...Iberia, the Spanish airline, announced plans today to eliminate 2,500 jobs....

5. Qantas Airways firings, Bloomberg via BG, E2.
   [NYT caught up with this story tomorrow in "Qantas Airways to cut up to 2,000 jobs by end of year," by Becky Gaylord, 11/16/2001 NYT, C4.]
   ...Australia's largest carrier will fire as many as 2,000 workers by the end of December because or lower demand for international flights. Qantas will withdraw its flights to New York starting Nov. 25 and will reduce flights to Rome, Jo-burg, Bangkok, Manila, and Buenos Aires.
   [Whew, Aussie's biggest airline clobbered 1470 jobs back in Feb. (2/23 #2) and its rival, Ansett, basically tossed in the towel in Sep. (9/14 #2). And it's goin' the same way for the two biggest airlines in the parallel dominion/dimension; see for example 11/10/2001 #1 below, this page.]

6. Geneva Steel says it may file for bankruptcy again, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...[after] emerg[ing] from bankruptcy protection in January. [It] closed its Utah steel mill, which had 1,500 employees, yesterday.... Most of the employees will be laid off at the company's only mill, in Vineyard, Utah.... More than 15 steel makers, including Bethlehem and LTV, have filed for bankruptcy protection since the beginning of 1998.
   [Sounds low.]

7. More layoffs at Global Crossing, by Simon Romero, NYT, C6.
   ...An operator of transoceanic communications networks [is] cutting another 1,200 jobs in an effort to reduce costs. The move by Global Crossing, which is based in Hamilton, Bermuda [or is this just a tax scam like Tyco's "base" in Bermuda?], comes after it eliminated 2,000 jobs earlier this year [8/02 #4]....

8. Eaton will lay off about 90 white-collar workers, AP via NYT, C4.
   ...10% of corporate-level jobs in a companywide restructuring. Eaton, an industrial manufacturer \based in\ Cleveland...has already cut 1,600 jobs this year in its operations around the world.
   [Well, we caught 600 of them on 4/17 #2, so now we need to count 90+(1600-600)= 1,090 jobcuts.]

9. Ames Department Stores, in Chapter 11, plans to close 16 stores, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...The fourth-largest discount retailer [will] lay off about 1,000 workers while emerging from Chapter 11.... Ames, which is based in Rocky Hill, Conn., expects to close the stores by early next year.... About 25% of the company's 25,000 employees will be affected....
   [Huh? 25% of 25k is 6250, not just 1000. We'll go with the conservative number for now.]

10. Australia: Phone layoffs, by Becky Gaylord, NYT, W1.
    ...Cable & Wireless Optus will eliminate 560 jobs, bringing to 10% the share of its worforce laid off since Singapore Telecommunications took control of it two months ago....
    [We caught 350 (3%) on 10/11 #3, implying a total pre-cut workforce of 11,666. (We should probably round this up to 12,000, but let's stay conservative.) But (350+560=) 910 is only 7.8% of 11,666. 10% would be 1166, meaning an additional (1166-910=) 256 that we haven't accounted for. So let's count both today's 560 plus the missing 256 = 816 jobcuts now.]

11. Providian Financial to close a Nevada office, Reuters via NYT, C4.
    ...The troubled credit card company [is] closing an office in Henderson, Nev., to save money, cutting 700 jobs, or about 5% of its total workforce of 13,000....

12. Weyerhaeuser plans to close 3 sawmills by year's end, AP via NYT, C4.
    ...More than 600 workers will lose their jobs because of the closings....

13. Hologic to lay off 80, shut plant, by Naomi Aoki, BG, E3.
    ...its manufacturing plant in Littleton MA and phase...out its film-based X-ray systems - a part of the business that had been losing money.... Analysts said the move is part of an industrywide shift...toward digital X-ray technology.... Hologic...will relocate some operations and people from Littleton to its corporate HQ in Bedford MA.
    The company also fired 80 people in August [8/11 #2]. The latest layoffs will bring the staff [down] to about 750....

14. Pioneer layoffs, by Beth Healy, BG, E8.
    Pioneer Investment Management [is] letting go 63 employees, or 8% of its staff. Most of the workers are in Boston and Medford MA; some are in Omaha. [Most] were involved in e-commerce, sales and marketing, and shareholder services.

15. Australia: Phone layoffs, by Becky Gaylord, NYT, W1.
    ...Vodafone Australia [will] lay off an unspecified number of workers as it tries to cut operating costs up to 50%. Competition and slack demand in the industry forced several smaller companies out of business this year, including One.Tel [6/6 #4]....

1. Axcelis pursuing plan to reduce its work force by 20%, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   [The NYT version of this story is sooo murky as to numbers, we're panning immediately to the BG version -]
   Axcelis Technologies to cut its staff by another 4%, by Stephanie Stoughton, BG, D5.
   ...as it consolidates its US manufacturing facilities in response to the slowing economy and flagging demand for its semiconductor equipment. So far this year, the company has pared 450 positions, or about 20% of its workforce.
   [Actually, this isn't that much clearer, because, drawing on some info in the NYT version ("It has already cut 16% of its workforce"), we would rewrite this sentence to read, "With the additional 4%, the company has now pared 450 positions or about 20% so far this year." Bottom line, none of the earlier cuts were mentioned in the NYT or BG, so we're counting the whole 450 now.]
   The company said yesterday that it will move a Rockville, Md., production operation to its HQ in Beverly MA. Relocation packages will be offered to 17 staffers. Still, about 80 jobs in Maryland and another 100 positions worldwide will be eliminated as part of the recent cutbacks, leaving the company with about 1,800 workers. The Maryland facility will continue to operate as a marketing and technology center....
   Since January, Axcelis has cut costs through workforce reductions, temporary plant shuttings, executive pay freezes, and voluntary furloughs. Over the summer, about 4% of its employees volunteered to take 90 days off without pay, while retaining benefits and collecting unemployment.

2. AOL Time Warner's IPC Media unit [in Britain] to close 6 magazines, Reuters via NYT, C4.
   ...[of its] about 100 magazine brands..\..including its long-running publication Woman's Journal, and shutting down its exhibitions business. IPC, which AOL Time Warner acquired earlier this year for $1.67B said the closings would involve 115 jobcuts from its staff of nearly 2,000....

3. Morgan Stanley ends small-investor push in Japan - Stock slump and slack interest are cited, by Ken Belson, NYT, W1.
   TOKYO...- Beating a hasty retreat in a sagging market, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. [will] close its only retail brokerage outlet in Japan...called Morgan Stanley Nippon Securities, which opened in January..\..because there was little chance it would turn a profit.... About 100 workers will be laid off, and the storefront office in the Nihonbashi section of Tokyo, not far from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Otemachi financial district, will be closed.
   Morgan Stanley's institutional brokerage and asset management business in Japan, which employ about 1,500 people, are not affected....

4. Lightbridge cuts, Bloomberg via BG, D10.
   Burlington MA-based [maker of] software for wireless-phone companies plans to eliminate about 100 jobs or 8% of its workforce as it closes its Palo Alto, Calif., operations to trim costs. Work...will be shifted to three other sites...including the HQ in Burlington....

5. Fallon Worldwide plans more layoffs, by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C4.
   ...dismissing 60 employees or 11% of its staff of 550. The layoffs, attributed to the economy and reduced client spending, will be made at the Minneapolis HQ office and will affect employees working on advertising and interactive assignments.
   [You know who you are - the Doomed.] Fallon \is\ part of the Publicis Groupe....
   [See also 6/28 #5.]

6. Parent of car rental chains seeks bankruptcy, AP via NYT, C4.
   The ANC Rental Corp., the parent company of the Alamo and National car rental companies, filed for bankruptcy yesterday, a victim of the drop in travel since the terrorist attacks.... ANC has already cut its workforce at its HQ in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and in the field....
   [Unspecified jobcuts.]

1. Bethlehem Steel to lay off 400 nonunion workers, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...by the end of January to reduce costs. The reductions will take place at all of the company's operations, including its headquarters, in Bethlehem, Pa. The 13,000-employee company, which eliminated 300 nonunion jobs earlier this year [7/26, #5], said that with the cuts its salaried staff will have been reduced by 25% since June. Last week, the United Steelworkers of America union said the company wanted to lay off 2,000 union members.
   [But the nonunion headcount was 2500 after the 300 cuts in July, so today's 400 more cuts carries off 400/2500x100%= 16% more.]

2. Ciena to take a charge and cut jobs, Reuters via NYT, C6.
   ...The optical networking company [will] cut its workforce by 10% or 380 employees....

3. Hayes Lemmerz to close auto wheel plant in Kentucky, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...A leading maker of automobile wheels [will] close a plant in Kentucky by mid-2002 and eliminate about 235 jobs to reduce costs as vehicle output falls. The company will offer an undetermined number of the workers jobs elsewhere.... The factory is in Bowling Green.... Hayes Lemmerz has about 14,000 employees.

• CBS News asks '60 Minutes' to cut back on producers, by Carter & Rutenberg, NYT, C1.
  In what many CBS News staff members described as the first time in memory that television's pre-eminent newsmagazine has been asked to reduce its production staff, "60 Minutes" is cutting back its corps of producers as part of a plan by CBS News to pare its budget in reaction to the rising costs of covering the war in Afghanistan....
  [Apparently a group of insulated morons who've never heard "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."]
  CBS executives described the move as minor...
  [Even though it's "the first time in memory"?!]
  ...and said that as few as five or six producers [6%] or associate producers may be cut from a staff of 100, a modest number, especially in comparison to the sweeping staff reductions in recent months at other media companies..\..
  [But not as modest as a 6% hours&pay cut for everyone at CBS, including the overpaid executives dishing out the pain to anyone but themselves, even if it risks 'killing a goose that laying golden eggs.']
  The cuts are not being called layoffs because some, or perhaps all, of those dropped from "60 Minutes" may be reassigned to other CBS News programs, such as another network newsmagazine show, "48 Hours."...
  ["Perhaps" and "may" don't cut it.]

1. Canada: Airline stops flying, by Bernard Simon, NYT, C3.
   Canada 3000, the nation's second-biggest airline, has ceased operations after failing to agree with unions on a restructuring required to get government aid. The carrier, with 38 aircraft, more than doubled in size over the last year.... Compounding a slump in traffic since Sept. 11, Canada 3000 was hurt by competition from Air Canada's new discount airline, Tango, which started operation on Nov. 1. Unions turned down management's proposal to shrink the airline by about 30%, including 1,500 layoffs.
   [So if 1500 employees is 30% of the whole, now that the whole thing is in the tank, we'll have 1500/30x100= 5,000 lost jobs. Unions are sooo dumb sometimes. The worst example is NYC's newspapers. There used to be 5-6 dailies. But suicidal union demands reduced that to 1-2.]

2. Sweden: Tool maker will lay off 2,000, Bloomberg via NYT, C3.
   Sandvik will cut as many as 2k more jobs by the end of next year, as the company, the biggest maker of metal-cutting products, faces waning demand from manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe.... Sandvik will trim 6.7% of its staff next year, including 300 job losses already announced.
   [But not picked up by the NYT or the BG. So we're talking about 300+2000= 2,300 jobcuts.]
   It is cutting 1,000 workers at its tools division and will probably shed as many in steel and mining, the CEO, Clas Aake Hedstroem, said in an interview.

3. General Mills expects earnings decline, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...The maker of Cheerios and Wheaties cereals [will] cut about 1,000 jobs in connnection with the acquisition of Pillsbury operations of Diageo PLC.
   [Aaagaaain, the toxic takeover-downsizing connection.]
   These layoffs are in addition to the 459 people General Mills let go when it sold a plant in Toledo, Ohio [caught that one on 10/22, #2] and the nearly 1,000 positions lost as a result of a hiring freeze while it completed the acquisition, a spokesman, Tom Forsythe, said....
   [Mmm, didn't catch those 1,000. (You get into a kind of black perfectionistic collectionism in this job.) So our total is 1000+1000= 2,000 jobs lost.]

4. Saucony to lay off 40, Bloomberg via BG, C1.
   ...A Peabody MA-based maker of athletic shoes [is] firing 40 workers as it closes its factory in Bangor, Maine.... The factory was used to assemble some of the company's shoes. Saucony [is] moving all of its footwear production to suppliers in Asia.

5. World Wrestling Federation to lay off 9% of its workers, Reuters via NYT, C4.
   WWF Entertainment [will] lay off 9% of its 457 workers....
   [Specifically, 39 cuts according to "WWF Restructures, Cuts Work Force," AP-NY-11-08-01 via AOLNews via RadioTony.]

6. Arnold Worldwide cuts 20 more jobs, by Chris Reidy, NYT, C1.
   Boston ad agency...confirmed that it cut...its headquarters staff of 782. The roughly 400 other staffers who work in satellite offices were not affected.... Arnold, the largest agency in New England, also laid off 20 people in August....
   [We make it 30 in August - see 8/03, #3.]

7. People in need criticize plans to close a center of help, by Barbara Stewart, NYT, B1.
   The Family Assistance Center [FAC] on Pier 94 [NYC], set up by the city for people left jobless, homeless, bereaved or injured by the attack on the World Trade Center, is being dismantled, and the system replacing it is already generating complaints from volunteers and those seeking help....
   Last Monday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, at the city's request, took over half of the building used by the FAC.... The Center offered a full buffet, child care and free access to telephones and computers..\..
   But the main purpose of the FAC was to help the bereaved, not the jobless or homeless. \So\ the city-run side is closing in about two weeks...now that the number of bereaved people seeking help is dwindling..\..
   [Unspecified lost jobs.]

1. Etc. - Volkswagen AG, Globe staff & wire services, BG, C2.
   ...Some 16,000 workers at a Brazilian factory of Germany's Volkswagen AG vowed to go on strike after the automaker announced it would cut 11% of its staff in that country during a downturn in the car industry....
   [We aren't given the total workforce figure but we can get it from one of our timesizing stories today, 11/09, #3. That figure is 26,800 and that story gives the number of jobcuts too, as 3,000 jobcuts. See also our timesizing item on this situation two days ago (11/07/2001, #4), which revealed that VW had first offered to cut hours and pay 20%, and then come down to 15%, but blockheaded unions rejected the offer, which would have preserved their jobs, their hourly wage levels, their company, and would have held the line at the current level of wage-depressing labor surplus in Brazil instead of swelling it. Guess some people just can't understand work sharing. They will be left behind in economic and social evolution once this strategy catches.]

2. Japan - Rohm to cut work force, Reuters via NYT, W1.
   ...Japan's biggest maker of customized integrated circuits [will] trim its domestic group workforce 6.5% to 5,800 from 6,200 by next spring. It will also lay off 300 workers at U.S. wafer production operations where output will be suspended.
   So, 400+300= 700 jobcuts.]

3. Salomon Smith Barney expected to cut 300 jobs, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...investment banking jobs, or 10% of the division as soon as next week and reassign some senior bankers...as the securities industry suffers its most prolonged profit decline since 1994. Securities firms have cut more than 26,000 jobs this year.

4. Graham Packaging says it will close a plant in Ontario, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...A maker of plastic containers [will] cut 140 jobs and close a manufacturing plant in Burlington, Ont., because of the slowing economy.... The plant's operations wil be moved either to a plant in Mississauga, Ont., or to the U.S.... Graham...based in York, Pa., employs 4,000 people at plants in North America, Europe and Latin America....

5. Etc... L.S. Starrett Co., Globe staff & wire services, BG, C5.
   ...laid off about 30 people, or about 3% of its staff at its Athol MA headquarters....

6. Wall St. lays off lawyers as deals drop, by Laura Mansnerus, NYT, C23.
   ...Last week, the San Francisco law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop...told associates it would lay off 11 of the 109 lawyers in its Manhattan office....

7. Suffering low attendance since attack, Guggenheim plans layoffs, by Celestine Bohlen, NYT, A24.
   Just one month after it toasted the opening of two museums in Las Vegas, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum confirmed yesterday that it was planning layoffs at its main museum of Fifth Avenue, which has been particularly hard hit by a drop in out-of-town tourism. ...Attendance [is] down 50% from last summer's high of 26,000 a week....
   It has not yet been determined how many people will face layoffs at the NY museum, but according to..\..Lisa Dennison, deputy director and chief curator..."we are talking about something noticeable."... The last layoffs were in 1994, when the museum reduced its staff by more than 10%....
   [You'd think a museum would have enough respect for its staff and their skills, and enough mutual loyalty to trim hours instead of jobs. But apparently "the strategy of the future" is still unknown to them, so they're as brutal and self-mutilating as so many other industries.]

8. South Dakota: Youth prison is closing, AP via NYT, A21.
   The state will close its prison for juveniles to save about $1m a year, Gov. William Janklow announced. Fifty-one young people are housed in the prison, at the eastern SD town of Plankinton, but the population has been declining each year.... The state will place troubled youth in other specialized programs in SD, or in neighboring states.
   [Unspecified jobcuts.]

1. Maker of aircraft materials to cut 25% of work force, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   The Hexcel Corp. [will] cut 1,500 jobs...by the end of 2002 as demand for commercial aircraft wanes. The company...based in Stamford, Conn..\..expects to have fewer than 4,500 employees worldwide at the end of next year, down from about 6,000 today....
   [Dunno if we'd like too many parts in our plane from an outfit with the syllable "hex" in their name these days. Turbid karma. Especially when they're POing employees with layoffs instead of keeping everyone together and working - with hours cuts + proportional paycuts if necessary.]

2. 1,400 layoffs are planned at Waterford Wedgwood - When tourism drops, demand for luxury goods falls, too, by Brain Lavery, NYT, W1.
   DUBLIN - ...The Irish luxury goods conglomerate will cut [into] its 10,000 jobs worldwide in response to slumping sales, which started falling from record highs in July and are now down 4.5% from last year.... More than 1,100 of the company's layoffs will be at manufacturing operations in Britain, although 100 workers will lose their jobs at the company's flagship crystal plant in Waterford, Ireland. It will also close 40 of its British retail outlets, with the loss of 400 jobs....

3. Lockheed Martin to cut 360 jobs from its Space Systems unit, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...which was supposed to build four satellites and provide services for..\..the nation's largest military contractor['s] unsuccessful Internet telecommunications venture. The job cuts, which represent about 1.4% of the unit's workforce, will reduce expenses about $30m a year.... The job reduction will affect employees in Denver, and Sunnyvale, Calif....

4. Pfizer to close its animal drug plant in Missouri, AP via NYT, C4.
   ...in Lee's Summit, Mo.... The plant, [which] opened in 1972 \and\ which employs 170 people, will close within two years.... Pfizer cited a lower demand for some animal health products....

5. Spike Broadband Systems to cut staff; eyes sale after losing big pact, by Peter Howe, BG, C6.
   ...A Nashua company that builds fixed-wireless systems for high-speed telecom access...is slashing its workforce to a skeleton staff and looking to sell or merge the company after losing most of a major contract in Denmark. Spike, which...was founded in 1995, is keeping about 20 of its 150 employees....
   [So, Spike has spiked. Or been spiked. And 150-20 means 130 jobcuts.]

6. Dominion Resources to cut 24% of senior managers, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...A utility company [will] reduce its 79-person senior management team by 19 officers by the end of the year to cut costs.... The chief executives of the company's business operating units will keep their jobs....

7. Earnings of 2 insurance rivals reflect toll from terror attacks, Reuters via NYT, C2.
   In reports yesterday, Marsh & McLennan and the Aon Corp...former world trade center neighbors, each reported Q3 earnings that reflected the toll of the terror attacks....
   [Poetic in its tragic alliteration.]
   Aon...said earnings in its brokerage division were growing only slowly despite a year of cost-cutting, job reductions, and technology investments.
   [Again the oft-ignored, nay denied, juxtaposition of technology investments and job reductions. Unspecified jobcuts.]
   The overhaul followed a string of acquisitions that left Aon struggling to get expenses down....
   [Again the toxic takeover-downsizing connection. We caught Marsh & McLennan's Mercer unit layoffs on 10/31, #8.]

1. Filing for bankruptcy, Sabena shuts down, by Paul Meller, NYT, W1.
   BRUSSELS - ...Belgium's long-suffering national airline filed for bankruptcy today, ending 78 years of service.... Flights have been grounded and the staff has been instructed to stay at home starting on Wednesday.... The chairman, Fred Chaffart...laid much of the blame...on the Swissair Group, which bought 49.5% of the Belgian carrier in 1995 and pioneered its aggressive expansion during the last six years. Mf. Chaffart also blamed the Swiss airline for suddenly reversing that strategy this year and for failing to honor its promise to finance the bulk of a recapitalization for Sabena. ...The Sept. 11 attacks also played a part in Sabena's downfall....
   Efforts are being made to salvage some of the 15,000 jobs at Sabena. Plans are being developed with Belgian investors and financial institutions, and with [Brussels-based] Virgin Express, to start a smaller more adequate airline [to] focus on Europe and be based on Sabena's regional airline, DAT. The objective is to keep the country linked with the rest of the world and to guarantee employment possibilities for thousands of people, Mr. Chaffart said....

2. Filing for bankruptcy, Sabena shuts down, by Paul Meller, NYT, W1.
   ...In Stockholm, the Scandinavian Airlines System [SAS, will] eliminate 2,500 jobs and reduce seating capacity 5%. The airline also reported a Q3 loss.
   [Compare the Boston Globe's clearer presentation -]
   SAS cuts jobs, Bloomberg via BG, D2.

3. Medica to eliminate 20% of its work force, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...A nonprofit health insurer plans to eliminate...more than 230 jobs to reduce expenses.... Most of the reductions will be completed by the end of this month..\.. The insurer, based in Minnetonka, Minn...sells health plans to consumers and offers Medicaid and Medicare services....

4. Facing small crops, Welch's will lay off up to 100 workers, by Chris Reidy, BG, D3.
   Hurt by a sluggish economy and two years of small crops, Welch Foods Inc. of Concord MA announced a restructuring plan yesterday that will result in its first layoffs in two decades, ...many of them at an office in Westfield, NY, it plans to close. A few people, perhaps five or six, could be laid off at its Concord HQ, which currently employs about 250 people [although] more people will be hired in Concord as some functions are transferred there. When the restructuring is complete, 58 jobs will have been eliminated, a 12% reduction in Welch's salaried, nonunion work force.
   [Ah, what about the other 42 of the 100?]
   ...Some Westfield employees will be offered early retirement and relocation options. All employees who lose their jobs will be offered severance packages..\.. ...No union jobs will be affected..\.. Including unionized plant workers, Welch's employs about 1,330 people.... As a cooperative, Welch's reports net proceeds instead of profits....

5. Gerber Scientific lays off 61 in Connecticut, AP via NYT, C4.
   ...The maker of automated manufacturing equipment has laid off...workers at its South Windsor, Conn., HQ and 3 manufacturing plants in Conn. Top company executives also accepted a 25% pay cut to help control costs. Michael J. Cheshire, the CEO, attributed the company's financial troubles to a drop in business following the Sept. 11 attacks....

6. Rayovac profit is off 49%, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   MADISON, Wisc.- ...The third-largest U.S. battery maker...eliminated an additional 60 jobs in the last six months....
   [Presumably "additional" to the 280 it eliminated on 1/19, #2.]

7. MCK to shut plant, Dow Jones via BG, D10.
   Needham MA-based MCK Communications Inc., which distributes remote voice-access products...will close operations in Texas, reducing the workforce by 45% in an effort to become profitable. MCK said it will also make further cost cuts, including reducing discretionary and real-estate spending....
   [Unspecified jobcuts.]

8. American Tower, Bloomberg via BG, D10.
   Boston-based [operator of] about 14,400 wireless-communications and broadcasting towers...will pare jobs and build fewer structures to save cash....
   [Unspecified jobcuts.]

1. Polymer Group says it will eliminate 600 jobs, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...or 14% of its workforce...to trim its overhead.... The maker of fabrics used in diapers and surgical gauze...based in North Charleston, SC \expects\ the plan to cut expenses [to] be completed by the end of next year....

2. Japan: Coal mine to close, by Ken Belson, NYT, W1.
   Hurt by high labor costs and cheap imports, Japan's last coal mine will close in January.... Taiheiyo Coal Mine, which operates the mine in Kushiro, on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, plans to transfer half of the 1,000 workers there to a subsidiary that sells mining technology....
   [So assuming they're creating jobs for 500 people, they're only losing 500 jobs.]

3. Mercer Management Consulting is closing two offices, by Jonathan Glater, NYT, C4.
   ...in Washington and in Geneva, Switzerland. The moves, which are part of a larger restructuring that...it is undertaking as a result of a slowdown in the consulting business after...Sept. 11...will affect about 70 employees in Washington and seven in Geneva. The..\..advisory firm based in New York...will attempt to find jobs for those employees in other Mercer offices....
   [Totaling 70+7= 77 jobcuts.]

4. Ziff Davis Media to cut 11% of its staff, Bloomberg via NYT, C5.
   ...The [NYC-based] publisher of PC Magazine and Yahoo Internet Life [will] cut...about 75 jobs..\..after it closes Smart Partner magazine and combines Interactive Week with eWeek.... [It] is following other publishers in closing magazines after a decline in ad sales [e.g., Industry Standard, Brill's Content]....

• Corning announces layoffs, AP via BG, C2.
  CANTON, NY - Corning will lay off almost 12% of its workforce here as the company copes with a downturn in the market for personal computers. A dozen [12] salaried employees will be dropped later this month and 15 union workers will be let go by Jan. 1, the company said. "We are going to be going through a relatively mild reduction in our workforce," plant manager Thomas Story said.
  [It'd be even milder if he cut his workweek instead of his workforce. A 12% workweek reduction would give everyone there a nice 35-hour workweek (five 7-hr days) that single parents especially would appreciate. So the total here is 12+15= 27 jobcuts.]
  The Canton factory makes fused silica lenses used in computer chips....

1. Britain: Insurer will cut jobs, by Suzanne Kapner, NYT, C2.
   Prudential, Britain's second-largest insurer [will] cut 2,100 jobs and sell its property and casualty unit to the Credit Suisse Group for $517m. As part of the sale, an additional 1,200 jobs will be transferred to Credit Suisse's Winterthur Insurance division. Prudential, which has been losing market share to rivals CGNU and the Legal & General Group, is slimming down to focus on life insurance, which is less volatile than the property and casualty segment....

2. KPMG Consulting will cut its work force by 3%, Reuters via NYT, C4.
   ...A top consulting firm [will] cut up to 400 jobs.... The jobcuts will be spread across the company's global workforce with "very small impacts in any one area," the company said..\.. KPMG, based in McLean, Va., also said 300 employees had chosen to take voluntary leave of absence as part of a workforce alternative program....
   [We count indefinite leaves of absence as jobcuts, so here we have a total of 700 jobcuts. And if 400 cuts are 3% of the workforce, then 700 cuts are 3%/400x700= 5.25%.]
   KPMG is part of a large number of financial services companies cutting costs as the threat of recession looms.
   [Here's a reporter who isn't going to declare "Recession" until we have 25% official unemployment.]

3. Aluminum company to close plants in California, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   Alcoa Inc., the biggest aluminum maker [will] close plants in California and France that make aircraft parts, eliminating about 450 jobs, because of slowing demand from aerospace companies. About 150 positions will be cut in the City of Industries, Calif., plant [soon to be another ghost town perhaps] and 300 jobs at a factory in LeCreusot, France.
   [Another foreign setback for the job-creating purposes of France's 35-hour workweek. The most advanced economy in the world could greatly benefit from the next step in worktime economics design - MAKE THE WORKWEEK FLEXIBLE and let it fluctuate slowly downward to offset unemployment that is constantly trending upward as automation and robotization spread in every field. A rigid economywide workweek, however low, is ridiculous in this day and age.]
   Production will be transferred to other plants.... The company is based in Pittsburgh..\..
   Alcoa's profit fell 7.9% in Q3 because of lower aluminum demand..\.. Airlines have slashed flights by a fifth and canceled orders for equipment and replacement parts after a decline in travel after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks....

4. Beth Israel lays off 100 and cuts 200 positions, by Liz Kowalczyk, BG, C1.
   Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center laid off 100 employees this week and cut another 200 vacant spots - the first in a series of reductions executives say are needed to turn around record operating losses....
   [Giving us a total of 300 lost jobs.]
   The workers laid off this week were administrators and assistants..\..
   [Result? More chaotic healthcare paperwork to torment patients.]
   A spokeswoman said this week's cuts would save $20m from this year's operating budget..\.. The hospital, part of the CareGroup hospital and physician network, lost $32.7m on operations during the first 3 quarters....

1. Germany: Job cuts at bank, Bloomberg via NYT, W1.
   Deutsche Bank plans to shed about 4,500 jobs [in addition to 2,600 cuts announced 7/04], bringing announced reductions to 7,100, to save money as profit at Europe's biggest bank drops. The total cuts will pare the company's workforce 7%....
   [So if 7100 cuts are 7%, then the current 4500 cuts are 7%/7100x4500= 4.44%.]
   About 3,300 of the job losses will affect the private client and asset management division.
   [So much for the supposedly recession-proof nature of toadying to rich clients.]
   And 1,200 jobs will be erased in the DB Services unit, which runs groups like human resources and internal computer networks.
   [Well, anything they do to cut back HR is all to the good, as Catbert is our witness.]

2. Genuity's downward trend, pointer blowout (to E3), BG, E1.
   The Woburn MA-based Internet services giant will cut 990 jobs, about a fifth of its US staff, because stagnating sales led to a widening Q3 loss of over $300m. About 2,400 of Genuity's 4,500 full-time employees work in Massachusetts.

3. Weirton Steel arranges financing for restructuring, Reuters via NYT, C4.
   ...The company said the cost savings included 550 jobcuts that were previously announced. The company, based in Weirton, W.Va., has 4,100 employees. The job cuts must be completed within 180 days under the financing, arround with a group led by Fleet Capital...
   [Same ol' downturn-inducing crap from Fleet....]
   The company said it expected the restructuring to focus its operations on the production of tin and other products that have high [profit] margins....

4. Swank fires 383, Bloomberg via NYT, E5.
   ...A maker of men's jewelry, belts, and leather goods...has shed 383 jobs, or about 37% of its workforce this year to cut costs as it exits the jewelry manufacturing business and focuses on men's accessories.

5. Citing slowdown, BEA Systems will cut up to 330 jobs, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...or 10% of its stafrf to cope with a slowdown in software sales.... The company, whose programs help Internet sites and Web programs run faster and avoid shutdowns, said corporations were reducing spending on software and taking longer to approve purchases.

6. Robertson Stephens says it will lay off 300 workers, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...The securities unit of FleetBoston Financial, is laying off...24% of its workforce...as stock sales and mergers decline.... The layoffs this week, affecting all areas of the firm, bring total job cuts to 600 this year, more than 1/3 of RS's workforce. Most of the new cuts will come in the firm's San Francisco HQ..\.. Robertson Stephens, which caters to technology companies and was a beneficiary of the Internet boom, is reducing its staff to 950 people worldwide....

7. ADC Telecommunications says it expects a bigger loss, Reuters via NYT, C4.
   ...A maker of products for high-speed Internet and voice lines warned yesterday that its Q4 results would be worse than expected because of a continued decline in capital spending by communications service providers.... The warning comes just a week after ADC announced that it was cutting up to 150 senior managers and its chief operating officer position in a bid to streamline operations and save up to $20m a year.

8. Loss narrows at Priceline.com, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
   ...The Internet travel agency based in Norwalk, Conn...reduced expenses by shuffling executives, laying off 38% of its staff and shelving expansion plans....
   [Unspecified jobcuts.]

1. Alcatel plans to eliminate 10,000 jobs - It warns of losses amid weak markets, by Kerry Shaw, NYT, W1.
   ...One of Europe's largest makers of telecom equipment...expect[s] to report a loss of $4.5B for the year. The reductions announced [yester]day come on top of 23,000 jobcuts already announced this year [see 10/04, #3 etc.]. When the cuts are completed, Alcatel's workforce will have been reduced by 30% since January 2001, down to 77,000 employees from 110,000.
   [So this last cut is 10000/(77000+10000)= 11.5% of the immediately pre-cut total workforce.]
   ...Telecomms spending has evaporated worldwide. Lucent [of the US] expects to nearly halve its workforce from 106,000; Nortel [of Canada] is also [halving] its workforce...to 45,000....

2. ACT Manufacturing cuts 27% of staff over four months, Bloomberg via BG, C5.
   HUDSON MA - ...A maker of electronic circuit boards...has eliminated more than 1,853 jobs or about 27% of its staff since June as demand for electronics has weakened. ACT cut 853 jobs in Q3 and fired more than 1,000 additional workers this month, reducing the size of its staff to about 5,000....

3. Incyte getting out of genomics tools, lays off 400, AP via BG, C4.
   ...associated with its custom gene delivery service as the company tries to refashion itself as a drug maker....
   ["Custom gene delivery service"? - sounds kinda scary. Just as well they're getting out of it.]
   Incyte is the latest gene delivery company to jump into the pharmaceutical business. ...Genomic pioneers such as Human Genome Sciences Inc., Millenium Pharmaceuticals and even Celera Genomics - which played an integral role in the mapping of the human genome - have turned to drug manufacturing..\..
   Incyte...laid off 36% of its 1,100 employees in Berkeley, Fremont and St. Louis while closing its Berkeley chip-shipping operation..\..
   Incyte was once a leading maker of microarray chips, which are about the size of a microscope slide and contain specific fragments of specially chosed DNA. Drug companies use the chips to help them understand what effect experimental compounds have on genes. But in the last several months that field has become increasingly crowded [e.g., Motorola, Agilent], chip prices have dropped and customers are spending less....

4. Georgia-Pacific Group, NYT, C4.
   ...Atlanta, the world's second largest lumber and paper company [will] close two plants, one in North Carolina and the other in Wisconsin, and lay off 231 workers because of reduced demand for hardboard, which is used in furniture and car interiors.

5. Samuels Jewelers Inc., NYT, C4.
   ...Austin, Tex. [will] close 38 stores, most of them in mid-January, and lay off 225 of its approximately 1,040 workers.

6. Several agencies are cutting jobs, by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C5.
   ...Leo Burnett USA in Chicago, part of the Leo Burnett Worldwide unit of the Bcom3 Group, is laying off 50 employees, or 3% of its staff of 1,900. The layoffs come after 200 people, or 9% of the staff, was dismissed in Feb. [2/08, #5]....
   [Burnett laid off people in Feb. just as prep for an IPO?! Burnett deserves to shrink to nothingness and all its investors and clients the same. Pass the voodoo doll and the pins.]

7. Several agencies are cutting jobs, by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C5.
   ...The Kirshenbaum Bond Creative Network in New York will lay off 36 employees, or 12% of its staff or 292, across the agencies it operates: Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, Dotglu, Lime and Media Kitchen. The layoffs spare the San Francisco office of Kirshenbaum Bond, which recently [10/22, #3] laid off 10 employees, or 20% of the staff there....

8. Several agencies are cutting jobs, by Stuart Elliott, NYT, C5.
   ...The San Francisco office of Young & Rubicam Advertising, part of the Young & Rubicam unit of the WPP Group, is dismissing 12 employees, or 14% of its staff of 85....

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