Adobe Systems cuts 3 percent of work force

[UpInArms]

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/7263774.htm

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Software maker Adobe Systems Inc. has trimmed about 3 percent of its work force, cutting 100 jobs as part of an ongoing realignment.

The cuts made this week primarily affected workers at the San Jose headquarters and offices in Seattle and Ottawa, Ontario, a company spokeswoman said today.

``This is part of our ongoing effort to align resources with long- term business strategies and is not related to financial outlook or need for expense reductions,'' Adobe said.

...more...


http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0311140375nov14,1,5113811.story?coll=chi-business-hed

More layoffs possible

Office furniture-maker Steelcase Inc. has warned 77 of its most specialized and best-paid workers that they could lose their jobs in January. The workers were added to a layoff alert list that already included 231 workers from the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company's steel furniture operations and 90 others at its wood furniture plant. The specialized workers include tool-and-die workers, millwrights and electricians.

(just a short blurb)

and

http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2003/11/10/daily33.html

Vistakon completes layoffs with 279 Jax cuts

Contact lens maker Vistakon will eliminate 279 jobs in Jacksonville, closing a plant off Philips Highway in December while consolidating operations at a plant in Deerwood.

The cuts will drop local employment to 1,800 workers from a high of more than 2,500 after the Johnson & Johnson Total Vision Care Inc. unit opened in Jacksonville in 1981.

Employees, mostly in manufacturing and distribution, were told of the cutbacks last month. They will be effective Dec. 28 for nearly all Richard Street factory workers, spokeswoman Liz Cunningham said.

...more...

hoping all those CEO's are going to have some happy holidays! (/sarcasm too thick to cut with a knife)

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. More job losses thanks to the Bush tax cuts.

.

[Tempest]

2. Shell Oil cutting 250 jobs, closing refinery in Bakersfield, CA

No link, from today's hard copy of the Bakersfield Californian.

[UpInArms]

3. here's a link to your Shell closing

http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/4363637p-4373562c.html

Shell to close refinery

The Shell Oil Refinery on Rosedale Highway will close by late next year. The decision to discontinue operations by Oct. 1, 2004, was made public Thursday, confirming rumors that had been circulating for months.

The refinery employs about 250 workers with an annual payroll of $30 million. It uses about 150 contractors, which it pays another $13 million.

All those workers will be laid off or transferred, and the plant, which sits on 250 acres, will be dismantled.

In addition to the loss of money infused into the local economy, the Shell refinery produces 6 percent of the state's diesel fuel and 2 percent of all the gasoline sold in California. Replacing that will take some doing, Shell officials told the California Energy Commission.

...more...

and its related story:

Job losses a shock to city's economy

There's no question: $30 million of payroll walking out the door is a blow to Bakersfield's economy.

Two hundred fifty jobs with benefits. Average pay: $26 an hour, in a town where the median income is less than $18,000 a year.

That's what the city will lose when Shell Oil Refinery closes next fall.

What's more, another $13 million went to refinery contractors last year. That money, too, will disappear.

"What we need is job creation, because our unemployment is in double digits," said Abbas Grammy, an economics professor at Cal State Bakersfield. "Instead, we are losing jobs. This could have a profound effect on the economy of Bakersfield and Kern County."

To determine the overall impact of job losses in an area, economists use "multipliers."

The theory is this: When a new job is created, that worker will buy food, gas, clothes, movie tickets and other items. That spending boosts local coffers and eventually creates more jobs.

Likewise, when jobs go away, spending shrinks. That sucks away jobs and cash.

...more...

[yella_dawg]

4. But... But...

Wonder Boy fixed the job problem didn't he?

Shit. I'm never gonna find a job.

[okieinpain]

5. more news that the bush economy is booming

http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=1117453&TP=getbusiness

2003-11-14

Muskogee plant plans to close
MUSKOGEE -- Schrader Bridgeport, a designer and manufacturer of integrated pneumatic and fluid control solutions, will close its Muskogee plant, leaving more than 200 workers out of a job, according to a televised report.

The News on 6 report said the company announced in a letter to Muskogee's mayor that it will begin phasing out those jobs in mid-January. By the end of July, most of the 207 employees will be terminated, the report said.

Mayor Herschel McBride said, "We definitely didn't want to hear that coming after two more losses, but Muskogee's an aggressive, positive city in bringing manufacturing jobs and we'll keep working on that."

[dArKeR]

6. Adobe cuts Ottawa jobs

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031114.gtadobe1114/BNStory/Technology/

[UpInArms]

7. housing boom going away too

http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/4213898.html

13 USB mortgage jobs cut

Gwendolyn Freed, Star Tribune Staff Writer

Published November 15, 2003
USBA15

In a further sign that the home loan refinancing boom is fizzling, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage Inc. laid off 13 post-closing workers in its Bloomington offices Friday.

After four years of service, originally for Firstar Bank, which later bought U.S. Bank, Donna Johnson, who reviewed closing documents, was informed that she was no longer needed. She said she will be paid through the first of the year.

<snip>

With mortgage rates rising nearly a full percentage point in the past six months, the refinancing business has dropped off around the country.

<snip>

The U.S. Bank Home Mortgage layoffs comes on the heels of a layoff at Wells Fargo's Bloomington home mortgage offices, in which an undisclosed number of workers received pink slips.


Nineteen lose jobs at Boston Herald

BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Herald announced Friday that it had eliminated 19 jobs, including 12 full-time newsroom positions, in an effort to cut costs.

The cutbacks come at a time when circulation is dropping despite efforts in the past year to give the newspaper a more tabloid look, with bigger headlines, shorter stories, racier photos and more celebrity gossip.

Publisher Patrick J. Purcell held a 45-minute meeting with staff on Friday to announce the cuts.

"A soft economy and increased expenses have caused many in the newspaper industry to take similar action," Purcell said in a prepared statement. The job cuts were made "only after exhaustive evaluation of all aspects of our business," he said.

...more...