The Downsized » 2009

Short – City of Vallejo looking at more cuts

The Downsized Staff — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:11:41 +0000

To quell a budget shortfall of $18 million dollars in the upcoming year, in addition to a variety of cuts being considered across the board the likelihood of a reduction in force action becomes greater. While not set in stone, hearings on the upcoming fiscal year budget in addition to several workshops will probably lead to 20-30 positions being eliminated.

Why is this important? So far, Vallejo is the largest city in the state of California to file for bankruptcy protection (2008).

Stay Tuned.

Los Angeles Unified School District Approves Layoffs – 9000 Affected

Fort Lauderdale: Layoffs: Broward School District – More Teachers Face the Axe

The Downsized Staff — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:57:14 +0000

Teaching is a hard enough job, and it used to be a secure one. As evidence we have word of another pending layoff for teachers, this time in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Broward School District reports today that they will layoff as many as 400 teachers. Of all the professions being looked at by municipalities, this is one that likely makes the least amount of sense for cuts. Though the possibility exists that these teachers could be rehired by the district, for the time being these teachers are likely to be without jobs come the beginning of the next school year.

This is nothing particularly new, as far as cost saving measures go, teachers close to the staff at the downsized.com have noted that annually, in low years, teachers without tenure and support staff are frequently given notice in the late winter/early fall that their positions may not be renewed.

All we have to say is, what a scary thought for people working on behalf of the community to provide what the state deems to be compulsory education to the masses.

The Broward School District serves 304 schools, a quarter of a million students (Pre-k ~ 12), and employs some 28,000 full-time staff members.

Read about the Broward School District: http://www.fldoe.org/eias/flmove/broward.asp

Unemployment statistics, just another ill defined value

The Downsized Staff — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:03:42 +0000

Reported unemployment isn’t everything. Everyone seems to have a different definition for unemployment and how that number is reached. For states issuing checks it is the number of people reporting claims for unemployment insurance checks. For others it represents the number of jobs lost.

But what does it really mean? Does it count for the number of people who are underemployed? The underemployed are people working below their skill level in jobs that they are probably over qualified for. It most likely doesn’t count them. Why? If it’s for any reason at all it’s because they are employed, they have job(s), income, and an employer paying the taxes. Does it include people working two part-time jobs to make ends meet? It most likely doesn’t count them either for double the same reason.

Take an arbitrary number of say 9% as an unemployment rate. It doesn’t include people who are not actively searching for work, people who are unable to look for work due to circumstances in their life that prevent them from working, or any of the people working multiple jobs or whom are under employed. So that number that gets bounced around in newspapers, on TV, or online is likely higher than anyone would like to admit. And why shouldn’t it be reported that way? We at the downsized would like nothing more than to hear that unemployment is down or rose less than in months prior. HOWEVER, when it is used to give everyone a warm fuzzy it’s less than what we need. As a false sense of hope it much much less. We as a people need to know what we’re facing and rise as individuals and institutions to meet the challenges of the day that has been presented to us and move forward.

Needless to say, we present this information to provide the greatest amount of knowledge to the people with which to evaluate the deluge of information that we have in our lives. Yes, parts of it are scary, being without a job is scary. It’s not ok out there at the moment. But we have an opportunity to reshape who we are, and what we will be known for as a national economy… We have a chance to be better than we were and if we fail to recognize it, if we continue to prop up business as usual practices WE may not survive it. It’s up to all of us to innovate and to capitalize on the things/services/needs of the world as it exists today. In the words of the catchy Kaiser Permanente ad campaign, “Thrive”.

Tracking the Unemployment Trends

Surviving a Layoff

The Downsized Staff — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:12:17 +0000

So you just got downsized. Depending on who you talk to, it was going to happen to 4-12% of us in this economy. That’s quite a few people. Here’s what it’s doing and what you’ll need to know as you approach finding a new job.

#1 -Register with your state for unemployment benefits as soon as possible.

It may sound like a no-brainer, but with the numbers of people who are seeking benefits today there is likely to be a backlog on the processing end. The good news is that many states have these resources and forms available online. Get in and get what you paid in to the system. The only thing that we at the downsized would have wished for was that the entire benefit could have been paid out at once.

#2 – Know what the recent stimulus package has done for you.

Great articles have been published that give a breakdown of what is and is not coming as a part of President Obama’s stimulus package. See Yahoo’s Article as an example. Misconceptions about the stimulus:

Misconception #1: Most people will get their stimulus money as a check this year
Misconception #2: The adjustment to withholding will have to be paid back when you file your tax return next year.
Misconception #5: You need to apply through the government to get the COBRA health-care subsidy.
Misconception #6: You can receive the COBRA subsidy the entire time you’re covered by COBRA.
And many others. Read the balance of the article at yahoo.com

#3 – Give your resume a good look

If you saw this coming or not, your resume could use a good polish. Take a few hours and think about what you’ve done in the last few years and make sure that those things are clearly, let me say that again, clearly called out on your resume.

Consider using a service to place yourself competitively in your chosen market. Using a service like Monster’s Resume Writing Service allows you access to experts who can guide you through the process and perhaps insight in to what’s happening on the business side of the job posting site.

Once you’ve written it get it out there so that employers can find you. Never doubt the efforts of a headhunter or corporate recruiter, the more people they place the more they make, and these times have been rough on them too.

#4 – Give serious thought to the job openings that you find – Cover Letters Could be Your Key

With more people out of work and actively seeking employment and fewer jobs available competition has increased for the limited number of positions. Find a way to stand out from the pack and give that hiring manager or recruiter a reason to call you. You need to shine.

How to SEO Your Resume

The Downsized Staff — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:30:40 +0000

Be Found!
http://www.wegerbauer.com/how-to-seo-your-resume.html

The Fast Track to Resume Writing

RumorMill – UBS Laying off Brokers?

The Downsized Staff — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:35:23 +0000

We just heard about this. Are more white collar workers facing the chopping block? We’ll report back as soon as we hear more. No related posts. No related posts.

Sun Microsystems to layoff workers

The Downsized Staff — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:46:29 +0000

Looks like the tech sector is taking another hit. Sun Microsystems has announced a further reduction of 1,500 workers from it’s payroll worldwide. This represents an 18% reduction in staff.

This reduction in force is in addition to some 1,300 employees laid off earlier this year. Whether they are acquired or merged with IBM doesn’t change the fact that the total layoffs for Sun during this economic downturn is now between five and six thousand.

Sun Microsystems manufactures computer hardware, and software such as java, and mysql.

UPDATE
Sun was acquired by Oracle on 4/20/2009

General Motors – Layoff Notices to White Collar Workers

The Downsized Staff — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:17:05 +0000

It’s not just line workers being affected by the economic slow down in the automotive industry anymore. On Tuesday March 24th, white-white collar workers at General Motors Corp were informed that their jobs were being eliminated next week. While this cut is reportedly only 160 positions, mostly engineers and support staff at the Warren Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, it comes as a part of nearly the nearly 3000 US jobs lost throughout the US for the automaker, and 47,000 around the world. Roughly 20% of the total global workforce.

While sad that so many American jobs will be lost in this heavy season of layoffs, corporate restructuring, or whatever the flavor of your euphemism may be, this is something that we may have seen coming. Back in 2007 General Motors posted enormous sales worldwide but maintained an operating budget that placed the company at $38 BILLION loss (3rd quarter 2007). Even a year ago news of trouble at the automaker forced the company in to over 70,000 buyout offers to keep from hemorrhaging cash.

Today the giant has seen cuts in salary, elimination of health care benefits, and suspension of dividends to shareholders, as well as widespread cuts in hourly positions, idling of assembly plants, and huge setbacks due to high energy prices, and the “credit crunch” which affects the GMAC lending arm of the company. During the Bush/Cheney administration General Motors and Chrysler were granted $17.4 billion dollars in government loans to continue operating. Background and Impact: General Motors is the second largest producer of automobiles in the world (second to Toyota in 2008). It had previously been the reigning global leader for the 77 years preceding. Around the world GM employs a quarter of a million people (give or take) across 34 countries. The company encompasses the following brands, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC< GM Daewoo, Holden, Humer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling (Thank you Wikipedia). 2008 saw total revenue at $148 Billion dollars with expenses and sales resulting in a net loss of $30 billion dollars. Sources:

Boeing gives 60-day notice to employees in March

The Downsized Staff — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:47:47 +0000

As a part of a projected 10,000 jobs across the company some 900 Boeing employees are expected to receive 60-day layoff notices. Of this latest group of layoffs 700 are from jobs in the Puget Sound region. The second, so far, round of layoffs has brought the total to approximately 2000 employees. The brunt of this layoff has hit the commercial airline group. To date Boeing has also reduced its contract staff by hundreds as a cost saving measure through other actions.

The commercial airline unit, responsible for producing aircraft such as the 747, 767, 777 and 787 (all manufactured in Everett, WA) is capable of turning out five to seven of these high capacity airliners per month depending on the demand of the market. The Boeing plant at Everett, WA sits on over 1000 acres, and has one of the largest buildings in the world (the main assembly building). Each 747 requires six million parts. The plant is staffed by 25,000 people on a three shift schedule.

The slow down of the economy, and the plight of the travel industry has finally reached the manufacturers. The consumer demand for air travel and the increased cost due to fuel and fees has caused airlines to change operating procedures, cutting routes, shifting schedules to accommodate a smaller fleet flying more miles, and carrying as full a load as possible. Additionally, less available capital on the part of the airlines to lease planes drops the demand for new aircraft significantly, even though the existing fleets may be taxed at a faster rate than in previous years.

The downside of course in seeing decline in an industry wherein a single product is manufactured from millions of individual components is that there are further downstream effects. While the plants themselves require the labor of several thousand workers to complete an aircraft, the necessary parts to build the aircraft come from a thousand suppliers across the country and throughout the world. IT is estimated that at its peak the plant could receive fifteen railcars of component parts per day to sustain the activity at the plant.

About Boeing:
Incorporated in 1916 in Seattle, Washington, Boeing is responsible for producing some of the leading military and civilian aircraft. The company employs roughly 160,000 people (as of 2008), mostly in Washington, California, Missouri, Texas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Alabama, and Kansas. The commercial airplane group is the second largest companywide following the defense systems group.

Source:

Caterpillar to pink slip over 2000 more employees – layoff news

Caterpillar to pink slip over 2000 more employees – layoff news

The Downsized Staff — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:13:28 +0000

It would appear that Caterpillar, one of the global leaders in construction and mining equipment, is announcing another round of layoffs this March. Even with emerging markets in developing countries in need of equipment produced by Caterpillar, the plummet of mineral and metal prices has forced companies that would usually order gear to put those plans on hold.

Layoffs by Caterpillar are a means to realign the business and manufacturing lines with the needs of the global market and to best position themselves in the supply chain. Layoffs in January 2009, in addition to incremental layoffs through this announcement brings the total number of jobs lost by this global manufacturer to around 25,000. In January, Caterpillar’s layoff joined Home Depot, Sprint, the recently joined Pfizer/Wyeth, Texas Instruments, and IBM as thousands of workers worldwide in premium corporations were thanked for their service and excused as a reduction in force.

Caterpillar’s recent action hits hard in the United States. A majority of the layoffs in this round hit workers at a plant in East Peoria, followed by Georgia, and Indiana. Layoffs are not the only way that the company is looking to to support their bottom line and to weather the stormy economy. While not being let go, for the near future remaining employees are likely not to see increases to salary, corporate expenditures for equipment or other acquisitions, or new employees as hiring will be frozen.

Sources:

Caterpillar