Timesizing® Associates - HOMEPAGE

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Downsizings, July, 2003
[Commentary] ©2003 Phil Hyde, The Timesizing Wire, Box 117, Harvard Square, Cambridge MA 02238 USA (617) 623-8080

7/31/2003   6 downsizings, totaling 17,944 jobcuts + unspecified, reported in Wall St Journal & NY Times -

1. Pillowtex to shut plants, sell assets - Collapse of textile maker, battered by cheap imports, to cut thousands of jobs, by Dan Morse, WSJ, A3.
   [Compare VF Jeanswear, #4 yesterday, and re cheap imports, 7/30/2003 #3.]
   ...The sheet- and towel-maker, based in Kannapolis NC [will] terminate approximately 6,450 positions, leaving 1,200 workers in distribution and to help administer the company during bankruptcy [1/03/2002] proceedings....

2. Siemens AG, Dow Jones via WSJ, A7 (//NYT W1).
   ...will cut 2,300 jobs at its mobile-communications division, as the unit struggles to recover from a market slump...equivalent to 8% of the unit's 28,600-member workforce...500 will be in Germany.... CEO Heinrich von Pierer...has announced 35,000 jobcuts during the past two years as he tries to boost profitability at the conglomerate....
   [You can't boost your profitability for long by downsizing your own best customers = your own employees. Let's see if we caught all 35,000: 8/03/2002 #1 5000, 7/30/2002 215, 5/23/2002 #1 2000, 1/24/2002 #1 up to 20,000. Noop, that just gets us up to 5000+215+2000+20000= 27,215, meaning we still have 35000-27215= 7,785 jobcuts left to count now. We'll assume the current 2300 cuts are included in the "von Pierer has (now) announced 35000" - but we could be wrong - they could be additional. But if the total workforce before the current 2300 cuts was 28,600, then 7,785 cuts is 7785/(28600-2300+7785)= 7785/34085= 23% of the pre-this-cut total.]

3. May Department Stores, Dow Jones via WSJ, A7.
   ...will divest its of 32 underperforming Lord & Taylor stores [and] a Famous-Barr store in Des Moines IA and a Jones Store location in Omaha NB.
   [We're going to interpret "divestiture" as a euphemism for "closure" because of the severance and retirement language that follows -]
   About 3,700 employees will be affected by all the divestitures. The St. Louis company will provided severance pay and enhanced retirement to eligible workers.
   [We're also going to count all 3700 despite the next seriously damaged sentence -]
   The number of employees May wasn't available. [sic]
   [Our last big May downsizing was on 6/26/2003 #2: 1500 sales mgmt & support, no mention of "divestitures."]

4. Sun Microsystems Inc., Dow Jones via WSJ, A7.
   ...said it signed a definitive agreement to buy software company CenterRun Inc.... Sun, Santa Clara CA intends to bring on board most of the 30 CenterRun employees....
   [Let's estimate "most" as 25, giving us 30-25= estimated 5 layoffs.]

5. Singapore Airlines, Dow Jones via WSJ, A7.
   ...slashed a third of its capacity and cut 600 jobs, the most layoffs in its history..\..in the wake of the outbreak of SARS....
   [Probably referring to the 182 below on 7/22 #2, plus the 414 from 6/20/2003 414, with the 206 trainee cuts on 4/12/2003 #2 and the unspecified cuts on 3/21/2003 #8 ignored. But 182+414= only 596, so we still have 6000-596= 4 more cuts to count.]

6. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Dow Jones via WSJ, A7.
   ...increased operating profit 27% to ¥20B during the quarter by slashing personnel and research costs as well as boosting sales of hit products like cellphones, big-screen plasma TV sets and DVD recorders....
   [We're going to take a wild guess that they slashed personnel costs by downsizing instead of timesizing or paysizing and list unspecified jobcuts.]

• In quest for steady work, a man traces state's decline - Fred Harp, just 32, jumped from mills to high tech to utilities to government - 'Uh-oh, here we go again', by Jim Carlton, WSJ, front page.
  ...The loss of factory jobs in Oregon's linchpin industries has hit related services [eg: high tech] and, thanks to an unusual tax system, state revenue..\.. The state has the country's highest unemployment rate, 8.5% as of June, compared with the national rate of 6.4%....

• [but there is some justice -]
  Merrill Lynch's cost cutter is out himself, by Davis & Smith & Gasparino, WSJ, C1 (//NYT C6).
  ...The abrupt departure \of\ Thomas H. Patrick, the No. 2 executive at Merrill Lynch & Co. and architect of the securities firm's drastic cost-cutting efforts of recent years...which was effective immediately, comes amid signs that Wall Street's retrenchment could be nearing an end....
  [Or the departure itself could signal that the retrenchment is just beginning....]
  Mr. Patrick didn't return several calls for comment; in an internal announcement, Merrill said he retired....
  [Ri-i-ight.]
  [Followup -]
  Power struggle at Merrill led to ouster of the No. 2 executive, by Smith & Davis, 8/01/2003 WSJ, front page.
  [Bingo.]
  ...CEO Stan O'Neal forced this week's sudden retirement of Thomas Patrick...after [he] persistently advocated a succession plan that Mr. O'Neal disagreed with...the appointment of one of [Patrick's] own longtime colleagues, Arshad Zakaria, to be...heir-apparent to Mr. O'Neal....
  [(more followup) So, not a solo downsizing. This turns out to be an individual firing for just cause -]
  Merrill probed officer for payment - Inquiry earlier this year centered on [Patrick's] possible [attempt] to discredit Eliot Spitzer, by Randall Smith, 8/04/2003 WSJ, C5.
  NEW YORK - Merrill Lynch & Co. CEO Stan O'Neal curtailed the responsibilities of his No.2 executive, Thomas Patrick, in March, after an internal probe of his role in a possible attempt to discredit NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, according to people close to the securities firm....
  [So the resignation wasn't really "sudden," and it wasn't really a layoff equivalent. It was a firing-for-just-cause equivalent. Patrick is evidently just another arrogant, above-the-law executive - refreshingly, a white man put in his place by a black man (O'Neal).]

• Japan: Unemployment dips, spending grows, by Ken Belson, NYT, W1.
  Japan's jobless rate fell for the first time in 4 months and consumer spending rose as the world's 2nd-largest economy continued its mild expansion.
  [And that's putting it wildly.]
  The unemployment rate dropped 0.1% to 5.3% in June as the labor force added 470,000 jobs. At the same time, spending by those with jobs grew 0.4% compared with June a year ago. ) -

1. Switzerland: ABB records another loss, by Alison Langley, NYT, W1.
   Burdened by capital losses from divestments [selling off to divest is supposed to make money for you!] and further decreases in profits from divisions it is trying to sell, ABB [erstwhile Asea Brown Bovery], the Swiss engineering firm, posted its 4th consecutive quarterly loss.... As part of an overhaul, ABB has slashed its workforce nearly in half, to 100,000, and intends to continue finetuning its costs, said Juergen Dormann, the CEO and chairman.
   ["Slashing its workforce nearly in half" is "finetuning"?! Juergen's got a pretty black sense of humor. Wal, let's see. Back on 4/30/2003 #3, we left ABB's workforce, we thought, at 138,838 total positions in vanishing ink. We evidently missed some, and must now count a hefty 138838-100000= 38,838 more jobcuts, or 38838/138838= a 28% downsizing. And the current declining balance is 100,000 cowering villeins.]

2. Phone firm swings to a Q2 profit amid gains in wireless unit, Dow Jones via WSJ, B8.
   Verizon Communications Inc...the largest U.S. phone company by revenue...said Verizon Wireless added 1.2m net retail customers for a total of 34.6m. CFO Doreen Toben said Verizon needs to cut costs amounting to between 4,000 and 5,000 jobs in the 2nd half of the year.
   [There they go again, cutting jobs while in profit, thus guaranteeing No Recovery.]
   Those may come through a combination of layoffs, voluntary reductions such as buyout packages and early retirement, and attrition. [NY-based] Verizon has 221,000 employees. The company's shares fell....
   [Serves 'em right.]

3. Providian Financial to close El Paso call center and lay off 232 workers, Bloomberg via NYT, C3.
   ...to cut costs..\.. The move comes after..\..the 7th-largest credit-card issuer in the U.S...which is based in San Francisco, sold almost half its credit-card portfolio and reduced its staff by 47% last year....
   [Well our 11/15/2001 #11 story pegs the original total workforce at 13,000 and we already counted 700 planned that Nov, 800 mentioned on 1/04/2002 #1 and 1300 mentioned on 7/31/2002 #1, which only comes to 700+150+1300= 2,150, a mere 2150/13000= 17%.   47% of 13000 would be 6,110, leaving a total of 13000-6110= 6,890 gaunt survivors. So somewhere we missed 6110-2150= 3960 layoffs last year which we'll count now in addition to the current 232 cuts, for a grand total of 3960+232= 4,192 jobcuts, or 4192/(6890+3960)= 4192/10850= 39% of the pre-these-exact-cuts total. And our new declining balance is 6890-232= 6,658 total workforce.]

4. VF Jeanswear to lay off 1,800 and close plants, Bloomberg via NYT, C3.
   ...The maker of Wrangler jeans plans to lay off...about 8% of its workforce.... The company, a unit of the VF Corp., said yesterday that 366 workers would lose their jobs in September when the company closes a sewing plant in Windsor NC. Another 526 employees will lose their jobs at a plant in Wilson NC. Executives said they would lay off 663 workers in Seminole OK and shut down a plant in Ada OK that employs 246 people. VF Jeanswear now has 12 plants in the U.S. and 20 outside the country.
   [Including Mauritius?? - whence we have a timesizing article today, 7/30/2003 #3.]

5. Component maker to cut 400 jobs, Bloomberg via NYT, C2.
   ...as a result of its purchase of Allen Telecom. The Andrew Corp.. a maker of wireless network components...now has about 7,300 employees..\.. Andrew acquired Allen this month for $750m in stock....
   [Again the lethal takeover-downsizing connection.]

6. Milacron plans job cuts and reports $91m loss, Bloomberg via NYT, C3.
   ...A maker of plastics-molding equipment [will] cut about 300 jobs in North America and Europe and suspend payment of a quarterly dividend in a plan to save about $20m annually....

• Many jobless turn to teaching, but not enough to fill the need, by Kris Maher, WSJ, B8.
  [What 'need' without funding?]
  ...The sour job market has pushed many job seekers toward teaching, a profession that has been facing shortages for years....
  [What 'shortage' without budget?]

• Layoffs, sugarcoated, letter to editor by Prof. Gary Chaison of Clark Univ. Mgmt School in Worcester MA, NYT, A26.
  ...Antiseptic terms to describe layoffs are irritating.... Employers are 'outsourcing jobs' and 'freeing up' the labor force. Such euphemisms remind me of 'rightsizing' instead of 'downsizing,' and 'furloughing' workers instead of 'laying them off.'... Such workers have been 'let go'..\.. These words make decisions with tremendous social and personal implications seem like nothing more than economic adjustments....

1. BMC to cut jobs, Bloomberg via NYT, NYT, C4.
   BMC Software, whose programs manage mainframe and server computers, [will] cut 13% of its staff [because] it had its first loss in 5 quarters as customers canceled purchases....
   [We learned on 3/06/2003 #2 that BMC Software's total workforce was 6,800, of which 13% would be 884 jobcuts. BMC Software should not be confused with BMC Industries, which had jobcuts on 6/28/2003 #1.]

• 7/28 One in five Americans experienced a layoff in the past 3 years, news blurb, WSJ, front page.
  ...and 2/3 had no severance package, a study by Rutgers University found.

• 7/27 A new Red Menace imperils trade, jobs,"by Charles Stein, Boston Globe, F1.
  The US trade deficit with China is now running at about $110B a year, double what it was 5 years ago, and 28% more than it was a year ago.... For the [US and] the rest of the world, the depressed yuan [Chinese currency] represents a form of beggar-thy-neighbor economics. It sucks jobs, not just out of the U.S., but from developing countries such as Mexico....

• 7/27 Kathleen Brown, of consultancy King & Bishop, on job market,"by Charles Stein, Boston Globe, F2.
  Q. How does this job market [downturn] compare to past markets?
  A. My perception is that this one is as deep, in terms of cuts, but it also has gone on longer than prior recessions or down markets, and it's taking people much longer to find jobs. ...Some interesting research...shows that this is actually the worst labor market in the post-World War II era. Some 2.6m jobs have been lost in this recession, which is 2.7% of total jobs in the country.... High-tech took the first big hit, and it continues to be hardest hit. But then it had a domino effect in the general market. Even biotech, which was flying high through the recession, has started to decline more recently.... Look at Millennium Pharmaceuticals [6/6/2003 #1]. That was such a highflier but it is now laying off hundreds of people....) -

1. 7/26 Goldman Sachs Group Inc., NYT, B4.
   ...New York [will] move as many as 250 administrative and technology jobs to Bangalore, India, by next year to cut costs.

1. JDS Uniphase Corp., Dow Jones via WSJ, A10.
   ...The San Jose CA maker of fiber optic parts...reported a much narrower loss for its fiscal Q4 amid a sharp drop in expenses.... The company's global employment, about 5,500 employees at the end of Q4, was down from 6,400 at the end of Q3 and below its peak of 29,000 in early 2001.
   [Well, we counted the 29,000 down to 7,000 on 1/24/2003 #1, so now we need to count 7000-5500= 1,500 jobcuts, or 1500/7000= 21% of total surviving pre-cut workforce.]

2. Spiegel Inc., NYT, C3.
   ...Downers Grove IL, the bankrupt owner of the Eddie Bauer clothing store chain [will] close a customer contact center in Rapid City SD and a distribution center in Newport News VA, eliminating about 640 jobs.

3. A.T. Cross Co., NYT, C3.
   ...Lincoln RI, maker of Cross pens [will] eliminate about 160 jobs, or 19% of its total workforce, by early next year as part of a plan to reduce annual costs by as much as $12m.

1. Kodak reports lower profits and may cut 6,000 workers - More than half the layoffs will be in Rochester, by Claudia Deutsch, NYT, C7.
   [Bad headline mood clash - subjunctive/conditional "may cut" vs. indicative "layoffs will be."]
   The Eastman Kodak Co., still grappling with ways to bring its costs in line with its shrinking film revenue, said yesterday that it would eliminate [= indicative mood in indirect discourse easily mistaken for subjunctive] as many as 6,000 jobs...which would reduce the workforce by up to 9%....

2. Charles Schwab net rises 29% on trade rebound, expense cuts, by Gaston Ceron, Dow Jones via WSJ, C9.
   ...Schwab's...fulltime payroll fell to 16,100 employees at the end of Q2 from 16,500 in Q1 and 19,100 in 2Q02. Schwab finance chief Christopher Dodds said the reduction was due to employee attrition and reduced levels of temporary staff....
   [Hmm, 19100-16100= 3000 total cuts from 2Q02 to 2Q03, and we've only counted 900 (9/18/2002 #2) and 1000 (8/07/2002 #2), so we still need to count 3000-(900+1000)= 1,100 additional jobcuts.]

3. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., NYT, C4.
   ...Bentonville, Ark., the world's largest retailer, said that David Ferguson, the company's president and CEO in Europe, had retired and that the position would be eliminated.
   [1 job eliminated, near the top for a change.]

1. Siebel Systems plans to cut staff about 10%, posts drop in net, by David Bank, WSJ, B5 (//NYT C7).
   ...Seeking to increase profits in the face of continued weakness IT spending...the San Mateo CA software maker [will] reduce its workforce by 490 employees to about 5,000 employees - down from about 8,300 employees as recently as 2001 \-\ consolidate product lines,... consolidate or close some QA and engineering facilities \and\ move some operations offshore....
   [Hmm, 8300-5000= 3,300 jobcuts altogether, of which we've only counted 1,164 on 7/18/2002, so now we get to count 3300-1164= 2,136 jobcuts, or 2136/(8300-1164)= 2136/7136= a 30% downsizing.]
   Operating-profit margins in Q2 were below 2%. \The\ restructuring plan is intended to produce...margins of 15%, even if revenue remains flat [dream on!]. ..\..Makers of software apps for managing business functions [have] been hit hard by cutbacks in capital spending by businesses....

1. Pinnoak Resources, NYT, C3.
   ...Pineville WV, which bought 2 coalmines last month from US Steel, [will] lay off 353 out of the 982 workers at the mines.
   [353/982= 36%.]

2. Singapore: Airline layoffs, Bloomberg via NYT, W1.
   Singapore Airlines [will] lay off 182 pilots and cabin crew members because demand has not recovered enough to fill flights after the outbreak of the SARS virus. This would be the airline's second round of job cuts in 2 months. The airline, which employed about 30,000 people, also laid off 414 workers last month (6/20/2003).

3. Chemical company chief quits and layoffs are planned, AP via NYT, C3.
   ...Millennium Chemicals...warned of a widening loss and [will] cut about 175 jobs... 5.8% of its 3,000-person workforce in an effort to save $20m a year..\.. It also [will] suspend its dividend and move its HQ from Red Bank NJ to Hunt Valley MD....

• 7/19 Going home, to red ink and blues - Canceled classes and brain seizures, op ed by Nicholas Kristof, NYT, A27.
  Across the nation, state and local leaders have been 'force' [our quotes] to slash more than $100 billion in spending, laying off thousands of employees, cutting off health insurance for roughly one million people and lowering America's standard of living....

• 7/21 Animated film is latest title to run aground at DreamWorks - From now on, DreamWorks will use computers to animate its movies, by Laura Holson, NYT, C1.
  "Sinbad," which took four years, and some industry analysts say at least $70m, to produce, is expected to be DreamWorks' last hand-drawn film. [picture caption]
  [Su-u-ure "technology creates more jobs than it destroys" - especially when all you do in response is downsizing, not Timesizing.]

• 7/21 Wanted: Summer jobs, letter to ed by Sam Oglesby of the Bronx NY, NYT, A18.
  Re "Teenagers facing hard competition for summer jobs" (front page, July 14):
  Absent from your article was any mention of the role that illegal immigrants play in creating a job shortage for student summer [and adult year-round!] employment.
  Busboys, waiters, cashiers, burger-flippers, farm laborers, construction workers: these are but a few of the jobs that were traditionally summer vacation work when I was in highschool a generation ago.... While these jobs still exist, probably in greater number than ever, they are not readily available for student summer job-seekers, who are no longer actively recruited since cheap illegal immigrant labor is so readily available.
  [That's why referendum-powered immigration-law design and enforcement is such a big part of Phase Five, "Plugging the Leaks," of the Timesizing full-employment program.] ) -

1. 7/21 Slump in car sales in Brazil brings with it 4,000 job cuts, Dow Jones via WSJ, B6.
   ...Volkswagen AG [will] eliminate...16% of its 24,800-member workforce due to weak sales and excess capacity at its 5 Brazilian factories. ...The jobcuts announcement came less than a week after VW announced plans to invest $6.8B in new factories in China..\.. Brazilian car sales have slipped 8% during the first half of 2003. VW was Brazil's 3d-largest automaker behind GM and Fiat during the period.... VW sold 382,071 cars last year in Brazil...14% of the company's worldwide car sales..\..giving it a 26% share of the domestic market..\.. Many of the workers set to lose their jobs will have the opportunity to transfer to a new firm being created by the company....

2. 7/21 Vicor Corp., Dow Jones via WSJ, B6.
   ...will eliminate the jobs of about 250 employees, or about 17% of its workforce, because of excess of manufacturing capacity.
   [Excess capacity, excess capacity - 2 stories in a row and a prime feature of the Great Depression.]
   Vicor, an Andover MA maker of power systems for the telecom market said the affected employees are factory workers....
   [Tying in nicely with the next tale of doom -]

3. 7/21 Laid-off factory workers find jobs are drying up for good - It's not just a slowdown - Structural changes strand many with basic skills, by Clare Ansberry, WSJ, front page.
   BUTLER, Pa. - ...Trinity Industries Inc. [which makes] parts for RR cars...started laying off workers in 2000 and a year ago, in a bid for efficiency, shut down the Butler factory....
   [Saw nothing about this last year so, unspecified jobs cut. We did have stories on 0010 (200 cuts), 0103B (?? cuts), and 0112B (?? cuts).]
   Other plants around Butler also have closed, including one that fabricated steel and another that made vinyl siding. Hundreds of manufacturing workers have been left without jobs and their options for similar work have narrowed significantly in this city of 15,000, an hour north of Pittsburgh....

• More job cuts are planned in commercial-airline unit, Dow Jones via WSJ, B4 (//NYT C4).
  Boeing Co. will lay off an additional 4-5,000 people...as airlines continue to put off purchases of new planes. The Chicago[!] aerospace company said 660 of those people will receive layoff warnings today. Since October 2001, Boeing has warned 42,000 people that they may be laid off and has given 33,890 people pink slips. Boeing must inform employees 60 days in advance of laying them off. By the end of this year, Boeing's commercial-airplane operations, which contributed 52% of Boeing's revenue last year, will employ 55-56,000 people....
  [So we'll assume that this is a 5000/55000= 9% downsizing, that could be completely avoided by a 9% timesizing.]

• Chip-equipment maker posts quarterly loss of $71.7m, Dow Jones via WSJ, B6 (//NYT W1).
  ASML Holding NV of [Amsterdam,] the Netherlands [was] hurt by a slump in sales and charges related to its restructuring program. [It] announced a further 550 jobs, or about 10% of its workforce, would be cut to lower operating costs...in response to a lack of recovery in its markets, which [AA alert! (ambiguous antecedent)] it sees as some way off....

1. Honeywell International Inc., NYT, C4.
   ...Morristown NJ, a manufacturer of general aviation products [will] close its plant in Lawrence KA and transfer 95% of the 189 workers to a new, bigger plant in Olathe KA.
   [So, 5% won't be transferred = 5% of 189= 9 jobcuts.]

• economywide "The battle over jobs that emigrate," pointer blurb (to A2), 7/14 WSJ, front page.
  As unemployment rises in the U.S., sending jobs overseas in outsourcing ventures gets thornier. Proponents say US companies gain in global competitiveness.
  [Grrreat - tougher and tougher competition for fewer and smaller markets, cuz the super-wealthy top executives have diligently cut higher paying jobs for everyone but themselves - and as spending power defaults to the top brackets, it transforms into investing power - which shrinks consumer markets even further. And with less marketable productivity to invest in, the financial markets change into pyramid schemes, merely liquidity- and momentum-driven. Here's the indicated article -]
  "Outsourcing abroad draws debate at home - A strategy stirs concern as U.S. joblessness rises," by Clare Ansberry, WSJ, A2.
  [Here's hoping they wake up to the suicidal aspects of downsizing in general before it's too late (the alternative? timesizing).]

• "Wrong job offer tests mettle - Joblessness takes toll; ex-manager won't take less than he's worth," by Kimberly Blanton, 2nd in series on laid-off managers search for work, 7/13 Boston Globe, G1.
  [An outplacement consultant reported during the early 90s recession that some guys are so ashamed, they don't even tell their families when they get laid off. They just put on their suits as usual every morning at the usual time and go to the placement agency and work 8 hours a day looking for work. This 'downsizing-type' capitalism is wiping out - wiping itself out. The sooner we switch to ' timesizing capitalism', the better!]

• racewide "Blacks lose better jobs faster as middle-class work drops," by Louis Uchitelle, 7/12 NYT, front page.
  [what do you MEAN "this article's racist"?! Compare 7/04/2003 #1.]
  Unemployment among blacks is rising at a faster pace than in any period since the mid-1970s.... Nearly 2.6 million jobs have disappeared overall during the last 28 months, which began with a brief recession that has faded into a weak 'recovery' [our quotes]. Nearly 90% of those lost jobs were in manufacturing, according to gov't data,
  1. with blacks hit disproportionately harder than whites.
  2. At the same time, jobless black Americans have been unusually persistent about staying in the labor force. ...They have continued to look for new ones in the soft economy, and so are counted now as unemployed;
     [like, what choice do they have?! (lord god, the self-universalizing naivete of relatively wealthy NYT reporters, assuming everyone does everything out of choice!)]
  if they gave up trying to find work, they would not be counted.
  [just a leetle problem there with our unemployment rate]
  These two phenomena help to explain why the black unemployment rate...is rising twice as fast as that of whites, and faster than in any downturn since the mid-1970s recession. Low-wage workers and women who went from welfare to work in the 1990s have largely kept their jobs; factory breadwinners have borne the pain, men and women alike.
  "The number of jobs and the types of jobs that have been lost have severely diminished the standing of many blacks in the middle class," said William Lucy, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists....
  "This is not like the cyclical downturns in the old days, when you got furloughed for a few weeks and then recalled," said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. "These jobs are gone, and that represents a potentially significant slide in living standards."...
  [If it isn't a cyclical downturn, it's a secular or permanent downturn. America is going down, and so is the rest of the world until one or two economies discover and unleash the power of timesizing, not downsizing, and start the stampede back up the slope. Meanwhile, America is going down further and further toward the Third World, led, apparently and unfortunately, by its black citizens.]

• and similarly, age-cohort-wide "Teenagers facing hard competition for summer jobs - Worst market in years - Economy and older workers reduce the opportunities for youth employment," by Kate Zernike, 7/14 NYT, front page.
  Teenagers are facing the worst summer job market in years, with the percentage of those holding summer jobs at its lowest in 55 years
  [Let's see, 2003-55= 1948??? Maybe Zernike rounded down from 57, which would make it 1946, which would be when the US job market was flooded by demobilized troops returning from World War II.]
  and the unemployment rate at its highest in a decade. Gov'ts have cut money that used to help put teenagers in jobs.... It stands out in cold contrast to the situation 3 summers ago, when teenagers were snubbing jobs cleaning parks in favor of...a better-paying one in the space of a season.... )

1. 7/12 Czech Republic: Army to be halved, Reuters via NYT, A6.
   ...in a budgetary consolidation. ...The army [will] cut 30,000 jobs by 2008....

2. 7/14 The United Nations' latest problem to solve is a union war at its headquarters, by Barringer & Schneider, NYT, A16.
   ...Workforce reductions and job security have become significant issues as well. The number of workers has been reduced by more than 1,000 over the last few years, since [US] members of Congress...complain[ed] that the UN's payroll was too large....

3. 7/12 The Netherlands: Insurer cuts jobs, AP via NYT, B3 (//WSJ, B4).
   The Aegon insurance company [will] cut 10-15% of its Dutch workforce, or up to 450 jobs, in the face of weak financial markets.... The latest round of cuts [will] come over the next 3 years....

4. 7/12 Blacks lose better jobs faster as middle-class work drops, by Louis Uchitelle, NYT, front page.
   ...In Indianapolis, for example, Autoliv, a Swedish manufacturer of seat belts, is closing a plant and laying off 350 workers, more than 75% of them black....

5. 7/12 Franklin Covey Co., NYT, B4.
   ...Salt Lake City, which publishes planners and holds seminars to help people improve their productivity, will close about 40 stores and cut an unspecified number of jobs.

1. Delta pilots' union files grievance over furloughs, by Edward Wong, NYT, C3.
   ...a grievance against management for putting 250 pilots on furlough in the last 3 months.... Delta laid off 1,060 pilots after the terrorist attacks of Sept/2001 by invoking a "force majeure" clause \said\ Mike Pinho, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Assoc.... The company used the same clause in the most recent round of layoffs....
   [presumably referring to the 250 "furloughs," which we would regard as layoffs anyway because they are apparently of indefinite duration.]

2. BPO Solvay Polyethylene North America to close Texas plant, AP via NYT, C3.
   ...to replace it with cheaper production from a new factory...in Cedar Bayou, also in Texas. \The Houston-based\ plastics maker that is a joint venture of BP of Britain and Solvay of Belgium...will halt production...in Deer Park...as of the end of July....
   [Unspecifed lost jobs.]

• State Street Corp. says 3,100 volunteer for severance, Bloomberg via NYT, C4.
  ...exceeding its goal of 1,800....
  [So we now need to count 3100-1800= 1300 more lost jobs, but we now feel our two previous stories 4/11/2003 #2 and 2/13/2003 #2 overlapped for an overcount of 1800-1000= 800, so all we need to count now are an additional 1300-800= 500 more lost jobs. On 4/11 we're told that the 1800 is 8%, so the original total was 1800/8x100= 22,500 and the currently counted 500 is 500/(22500-(3100-500))= 500/(22500-2600)= a 2.5% downsizing.]
  The company, based in Boston, plans to add 800-1000 employees over the next year after those taking the severance depart.
  [Rahlly, dahling? We'll wait and see.]

1. The Dutch way of firing - Even with flexible labor laws, the Netherlands feels global chill, by Dan Bilefsky, WSJ, A14.
   When PinkRoccade NV wanted to lay off 700 workers last year to cut costs, the IT services company had to get creative. A Dutch agreement between management and labor adopted in the 1980s...waived the requirement \for\ companies to consult frequently with unions and justify layoffs by negotiating with a workers' council...if companies laid off fewer than 20 workers.
   So PinkRoccade started laying off employees in groups of 19. It spread the groups [of layoffees] across the Netherlands to get around another labor rule that didn't allow layoffs of more than 19 in any one region of the country. If the number of desired layoffs exceeded the limit for one region, the company reclassified workers based on where they lived rather than where they worked. And to avoid laying off too many talented young programmers as part of a "last in, first out" policy, PinkRoccade reassigned some of them to divisions where the layoff quota had already been met....

2. The Netherlands: Baby food cuts, by Gregory Crouch, WSJ, W1.
   The struggling Dutch owner of GNC vitamin stores, Royal Numico, said it would take an 88m-euro charge ($101.1m) to compensate for closing 7 baby nutrition plants in Europe and the loss of an estimated 525 jobs.... Numico...is struggling to recover from poor investments that have left it heavily in debt.
   [And the WSJ version -]
   Numico NV, WSJ, A8.

3. Drugstore operator offers buyout to all managers, Bloomberg via AOLNews.
   Longs Drug Stores Corp., which operates in the West and Hawaii, said it offered buyouts to all its store managers as the company seeks to trim its workforce by about 2% to centralize operations. Employees have until July 21 to accept a buyout and will leave between Aug. 1 and Sept. 2.
   [2% of 22,000 is 440 jobcuts in the plan.]
   Longs, based in Walnut Creek CA has about 22,000 workers. In May, the company [said] unemployment in California and customer worries about the economy were hurting sales. The managers will be replaced with executives the company currently employs, he said.

• Australia seeks criminal case in major corporate collapse, Dow Jones via WSJ, C11.
  Prosecutors will seek to pursue a criminal case relating to the Aust.$5.3B ($3.6B) collapse of
  HIH Insurance Ltd.... A royal commission probe attributed the collapse to a failure to properly provide for future claims, mismanagement and an inadequate response to pressures in international-insurance markets....
  [Unspecified jobs lost. Note the neighboring article detailing an unusual group firing for just cause that the future will not classify as an illegal downsizing -]
  Cablevision Systems Inc. - Formal order of investigation on Rainbow unit is received, Dow Jones via WSJ, C11.
  ...In mid-June, Cablevision said it fired 14 employees from its AMC Network - including its president - after an internal investigation turned up improper expenses over 3 years. The company said it conducted a 5-month review that determined that $6.2m in marketing expenses in Rainbow Media, which includes AMC, were improperly accelerated; in some cases, employees did this by fabricating invoices, the company said.

1. Baxter International to close 26 plasma centers and lay off 2,500 [5%], AP via NYT, C4, (WSJ, A1>B4).
   ...medical products maker...based in Deerfield IL..\..to improve profitability....

2. Bank to cut 1,400 jobs in U.K., cites economic environment, Dow Jones via WSJ, B5.
   HSBC Holdings PLC, one of Europe's largest banks...from its head office...London....
   
   • [half] as part of a natural staff turnover...
   • [half] a mix of voluntary and compulsory layoffs....

3. France: Manufacturer cuts jobs, AP via NYT, W1.
   ...electrical equipment maker Schneider Electric...1,000 jobs in France...4.5% of its workforce there [of] 22,000...market weakness in developed countries and the strength of the euro....

1. American Airlines lays off 3,100 flight attendants, by Edward Wong, NYT, C6.
   ...More than 1,700 of the attendants used to work for Trans World Airlines, which AMR, the parent of American, bought 2 years ago....
   [Again the lethal takeover-downsizing connection. CEOs just can't seem to connect the dots, but then, neither can the CEO-strangled Bush administration -]
   The D.C. fantasy: Having it all, feeling no pain, by Gerald Seib, WSJ, A4.
   [Seib tries to blame Congress, but it's Bush who, while cutting taxes, is flushing them down the Pentagon.]

2. AT&T Wireless cost-cut plan to eliminate 1,000 jobs this year, by Jesse Drucker [any relation to Peter?], WSJ, B3.
   ...or about 3% of the company's total. ...Hasn't publicly announced..\..
   Those cuts follow a net reduction in the company's workforce of about 2,000 last year....

3. Black & Decker to buy lock and hardware units, Bloomberg via NYT, C6.
   ...In April, Black & Decker said it intended to save about $100m after cutting jobs and closing factories....
   [News to us. Unspecified jobcuts.]

1. Reduced production in Mexico blamed on weak export sales, Dow Jones via WSJ, B5.
   Volkswagen AG will reduce production at its Mexico plant by 23% starting in August, which will result in about 2,000 layoffs....

2. Waste Management to cut jobs for second time in 2003, AP via NYT, C6.
   Cf. WSJ, JB5.
   ...plans to lay off 800 people....

3. LSI Logic Corp., WSJ, B5.
   ...In April, the company announced it would cut 580 jobs, or 11% of its global workforce.
   [Cf. NYT, C8.]

Click here for downsizing stories in -
Jun.17-30/2003.
Jun.3-16/2003.
May/2003 (+Jun.1-2).
Apr.16-30/2003.
Apr.1-15/2003.
March/2003.
Feb.16-28/2003.
Feb.1-15/2003.
Jan.16-31/2003.
Jan.1-15/2003.
Dec/2002.
Nov.16-29/2002.
Nov.1-15/2002.
Oct.16-31/2002.
Oct.1-15/2002.
Sept/2002.
Aug.16-31/2002.
Aug.1-15/2002.
July/2002.
June/2002.
May/2002.
Apr/2002.
Mar/2002.
Feb/2002.
Jan. 16-31/2002.
Jan. 1-15/2002.
Dec. 16-31/2001.
Earlier 2001 downsizings accessible via links at bottom of Dec.16-31/2001 page.
Dec.16-31/2000.
Earlier Y2000 downsizings accessible via links at bottom of Dec.16-31/2000 page.
Dec/1999.
Earlier 1999 months accessible via links at bottom of Dec/1999 page.
December/98.
Earlier months accessible via links at bottom of Dec/98 page.

For more details, our laypersons' guide to our great economic future Timesizing, Not Downsizing is available at bookstores in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass. or from *Amazon.com online.

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