Alcatel-Lucent cuts 1,000 jobs

FRENCH-US telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent is to cut another 1,000 jobs between now and 2010 under its latest cost-saving plans, trade union officials told AFP.

They said the cuts had been announced to worker representatives on Wednesday and would affect mainly administrative, sales and a few industrial activities, including a electronic card manufacturing site in northern France.

The company declined to confirm the information, saying only that a study of how to improve the group's financial performance and reduce its portfolio of products had been launched six months ago.

'It is being put in place at the moment,' said a spokesman.

Since the difficult merger of Alcatel and Lucent in 2006, the group has announced several restructuring plans that have included 17,500 job cuts.

Source: Straits Times

Virgin Blue considering capacity cuts and layoffs

Virgin Blue stated at the end of May-2009 that it was considering increasing planned capacity cuts for the new financial year to 5.5%, commencing 01-Jul-09.

The LCC previously planned to cut capacity by 2.4%, but according to CEO, Brett Godfrey, cuts “need to go further as demand remains weak”. Mr Godfery added that the cuts would result in “taking out some flights”, but would not disclose which routes would be affected.

Source: Centre for Aviation

New Zealand Post cuts 400 jobs

Nearly 400 jobs at New Zealand Post Group have fallen victim to the recession.

Acting group chief executive Sam Knowles said there had been 237 redundancies in the first half of this year, 86 jobs were lost through attrition, and 61 fixed term contracts not renewed.

Not all the news was bad, with 90 new jobs created.

Mr Knowles said the recession, an unprecedented mail volume decline and challenging trading conditions were to blame for job cuts.

The group had about 10,000 permanent staff.

Approximately 90 per cent of total job reductions were in the postal services business, and 72 per cent of that block took voluntary redundancy.

"Different businesses within the Group are being affected in different ways and each is responding appropriately," Mr Knowles said.

"While the postal services and data processing and management activities have been adversely affected, Kiwibank is experiencing substantial growth and has added 89 people to its payroll during the period."

Further job cuts were possible as Group businesses continued "to manage through a tough commercial environment".

Today's figures did not include 74 potential redundancies arising from plans to close the Auckland call centre.

Source: NZ Herald

TNS Infratest cuts 35 jobs

In Germany, the TNS Infratest Group – which includes TNS Emnid – has announced that it is to shed 35 staff positions at its Bielefeld site. While 20 employees have been made redundant, 15 others have been offered jobs in the firm’s Hamburg office.

CEO Hartmut Scheffler made the announcement at a staff meeting yesterday, saying that the job cuts had been made as a result of the economic crisis: ‘We feel the slowdown is not as fast as other industries, but it is more than a dent,’ he stated.

Scheffler explained that the restructure was being made partly because of changes in the company resulting from WPP’s purchase of parent company TNS.

He also scotched rumours that the Bielefeld site could be closed permanently at some point in the future, and confirmed that all TNS Infratest offices in Munich, Bielefeld, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Wetzlar will remain open.

Following the merger of TNS and RI earlier in the year, the company announced last week that TNS Infratest will now be known in Germany as TNS Infratest RI.

Source: Mr Web

Danvers Bancorp Inc.’s takeover of Beverly National Corp will result in layoffs

Danvers Bancorp Inc.’s planned takeover of Beverly National Corp. will result in an unspecified number of job cuts, the Beverly bank said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

“While not all decisions have been made regarding staff levels, many of the Beverly National employees will have jobs in the combined organization,” the bank said in a question and answer segment. “There will likely be some duplication of positions as a combined organization, and therefore some positions may be either consolidated or eliminated.”

The bank said Danversbank will make every effort to place qualified Beverly National employees in open positions.

“And in fact, effective immediately, preference will be given to (Beverly National) employees for all openings,” the bank said in the filing.

For those who lose their jobs, there will be severance packages available. Severance packages generally will award 2 weeks of pay for every year of service, with a cap of 52 weeks, according to the filing.

Danvers Bancorp’s acquisition of the Beverly bank is expected to close sometime in the fourth quarter. The combined bank will have $2.2 billion in assets and more than 25 branches.

Source: Biz Journals

Gannett layoffs 20 at Arizona Republic

At least 20 journalists were laid off Wednesday at The Arizona Republic in the latest round of job cuts issued by the nation’s largest newspaper chain, Gannett Co. Inc., sources close to the paper confirmed.

Designers, feature writers, copy editors, and business and community reporters were among the newsroom staffers cut in what insiders and fellow employees dubbed “Black Wednesday.” The job cuts were part of a national initiative by Gannett.

Gannett spokeswoman Robin Pence said the company's newspaper division cut 1,400 employees nationwide. She did not provide breakdown of how many of those cuts occurred in Phoenix or other specific markets.

Republic staffers had been bracing for the bad news for a week, which created an uneasy feeling in the newsroom, according to several employees. A staff meeting is scheduled Thursday afternoon at the Republic to inform employees of the changes and to address the uncertain future of the last daily in the Phoenix market.

The Cincinnati Inquirer, Detroit Free Press, Ft. Myers (Fla.) News-Press and Honolulu Advertiser were among the dozens of newspapers that cut jobs Wednesday.

The Des Moines Register also was expected to make cuts this week.

McLean, Va.-based Gannett, which owns USA Today and 85 other daily newspapers, has been hit hard by the recession as big advertisers drastically cut their marketing budgets and consumers flock to the Internet for news. Web ads generate far less revenue than print, a dilemma the news industry has faced for nearly a decade with no clear-cut answer.

Every newspaper in the Phoenix market is struggling to keep advertising and subscription levels steady. Many have implemented layoffs and furloughs to trim expenses.

On July 13, the East Valley Tribune will implement a 5 percent pay cut. The salary cut will be felt across the board at Freedom Communications, which owns 32 newspapers, seven broadcast stations and more than 70 weekly papers, magazines, specialty publications under its chain.

The Tribune, which earned a Pulitzer Prize this year for its reporting on Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office, has trimmed its circulation to three days, cutting more than 40 percent of its staff.

After 138 years serving Southern Arizona, the Tucson Citizen closed its doors in March. The Citizen was owned by Gannett.

Gannett also owns KPNX-TV Channel 12 in Phoenix. No layoffs have been reported at the Phoenix NBC affiliate.

Source: Biz Journals

Startup TokBox layoffs 12 engineers

San Francisco video chat startup TokBox has cut six of its 12 engineers, and the last of the company’s founders has left, a company spokesman has confirmed.

The terminations were not “layoffs,” and the company immediately posted eight job listings in operations, engineering and product development, said Tom Suiter, a Grow Marketing representative speaking on behalf of the company.

The staff changes, reported earlier by online technology news site TechCrunch, were part of strategic overhaul of TokBox by new CEO Ian Small, Suiter said.

TokBox is advertising for eight positions in engineering and product development. Efforts to get comment from the company were unsuccessful.

TokBox offers a product that allows for multi-user video chat from a browser, but it hasn’t really managed to take off, much to the chagrin of the company’s investors who include Sequoia and Bain Capital. TokBox has raised $14 million to date, a lot of money for a video and chat startup, especially when similar sites have begun offering some of the same functionality.

Small is the company’s third CEO. Founder Serge Faguet was replaced by Nick Triantos last July, who in turn was replaced in May by Small, a former Mark Logic exec, according to TechCrunch.

TokBox’s last remaining co-founder, CTO Ron Hose, left the company in May to pursue other opportunities, Suiter said.

Source: Biz Journals

Hershey to cut around a dozen jobs

The Hershey Co. said that it will close its gifts catalog and Web businesses on July 31, eliminating about a dozen jobs. The chocolatier plans to clear out the gifts inventory with a 25% closing sale discount.

“Hershey has made the strategic decision to exit the Hershey Gifts business. The present business model is not sustainable," said spokesman Kirk Saville in a statement. The company “will continue to evaluate all options in e-commerce, including strategic partnership and licensing agreements."

Saville told The Patriot News (Harrisburg, PA) that while the online store, Hersheygifts.com, will stop taking orders July 31; the division won’t officially close until Aug. 28. Consumers can continue to purchase Hershey items directly at Chocolate World in Hershey, PA, and at Hershey Times Square in New York and Hershey Chicago.

Hershey Co. in March 2007 laid off about 50 employees in the catalog and online gift department when it decided to outsource those positions. The company signed a multiyear agreement to have King of Prussia, PA-based GSI Commerce handle the Hershey’s Gift and Mauna Loa catalogs and Websites.

In fiscal year 2008, Hershey recorded sales of $5.1 billion. The company’s net income rose 6.6%, to $311.4 million.

Source: Multi Channel Merchant

Vale Inco cuts 140 jobs worldwide

Sudbury will become Vale Inco's centre of operations in Canada and the United Kingdom in a restructuring move that also resulted in cutting 140 white collar positions worldwide, including 54 in Sudbury.

The elimination of regional presidents means management decisions will be made in Sudbury, rather than in each region. Three newly appointed Sudbury-based vice-presidents will be in charge of their areas of operations throughout Canada and Great Britain.

Cory McPhee, director of corporate public affairs at the company, says the management changes are about improving efficiency by basing the company's structure on function – not geography.

“Rather than look at a very decentralized, silo approach of having separate (nickel) operations in Thompson, Sudbury, St. John's (Voisey's Bay) ... we're looking at having more integrated Canadian and U.K. operations that looks at the entire flow sheet as a single mining, milling, smelting and refining unit,” says McPhee.

The 140 immediate company-wide layoffs are a further result of the restructuring. They are all from managerial positions.

“We recognize that these actions are difficult, but we hope they provide some sense of certainty to our staff family that has been anticipating further actions,” states Vale Inco president and CEO Tito Martins in a release to industry partners, July 9.

The managerial restructuring has been ongoing for the past eight months, with this latest announcement being a “culmination of all of those efforts,” says McPhee.

“I think it just allows us to leverage a lot of things that will make the business more efficient – economies of scale, optimize a lot of assets, processing capacity.”

McPhee says expertise in Sudbury will now apply to all Canadian and British operations.

The three vice-presidents who have been appointed for the new positions to oversee Canadian and U.K. operations are Mike MacFarlane, mining and milling; Steve Wood, smelting and refining and John Pollesel will add production services and support to his regular duties as president of Ontario operations.

“Sudbury will be the hub for all of our operating expertise,” says McPhee.

Supporting these roles, Lovro Paulic will assume general management responsibilities for Manitoba and Tom Paddon will assume general management responsibilities for Newfoundland and Labrador. Brian Maynard, the current president of the Manitoba operations, has been offered a role in the broader Vale organization.

Source: Northern Ontario Business

International Game Technologies cuts 161 jobs

KOLO 8 has confirmed layoffs are ongoing at International Game Technologies in Reno.

From IGT spokesman Ed Rogich:

"I can confirm that we will be reducing the global workforce this week. Reduction will affect 161 positions worldwide, with equal division between domestic and international workers. This is a continuation of efforts to reduce expenses, consolidate efforts among our business units, and find efficiencies within the organization."

Rogich went on to say that 35% of the layoffs (56 employees) are from the Reno Market.

Source: Kolo TV

West Penn Allegheny Health System furloughs 185 employees

West Penn Allegheny Health System furloughed 185 full-time equivalent people in response to the sputtering economy, the system announced.

The staff reduction, which were effective immediately, will be accomplished by attrition, eliminating vacant positions and layoffs. An exact number of people who lost their jobs was not available, according to spokesman Dan Laurent.

The system employs around 13,000 people and the layoffs affect every hospital and department in the network, the second biggest in the region next to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Source: Biz Journals

Vandalia Correctional Center to cut 127 jobs

The Vandalia Correctional Center is slated to lose 127 jobs as a result of the Governor's call to cut 25-hundred state positions. Department of Corrections Spokesman Derek Schnapp says the Vandalia prison is one of six statewide minimum to medium security prisons to share in the elimination of 500 jobs on September 30th.

"Now we have to work on, as far as identifying those positions because it's bumping rights, seniority rights, all that stuff we have to work with the union on the contract. Details of Phase Two, which includes an additional five-hundred employees, we are still working on that plan and it has not been finalized," Schnapp said.

Schnapp says while the Centralia and Big Muddy Prisons have been spared cuts for now, he can't say what will happen in the phase two reductions if they are carried out. So far no cuts have been announced at Murray Center in Centralia. State Senator John O. Jones says he can't support this way of cutting the state budget.

"We're already understaffed in our prisons. They're working overtime now. In Murray Developmental Center in Centralia, they're working a tremendous amount of overtime. How in the world do you think you can save money by laying people off and creating more overtime for the employees that are left is beyond me," Jones said.

Jones says while Governor Quinn is trying, he fears Quinn is being hampered by others in State Government left behind by the administration of former Governor Rod Blagojevich. Quinn's plan would also require all state employees to take 12 furlough days. Vandalia Mayor Ricky Gottman says he's deeply concerned about the negative impact the Vandalia Correctional Center layoffs will have on families in the community. He wants the Governor and legislators to consider the real life impact of massive employee layoffs within state agencies.

Source: WJBD Radio

Verizon Wireless layoffs 50 former Alltel employees

Verizon Wireless has laid off 50 workers in Arkansas who were part of the former Alltel Corp., which Verizon acquired in January.

Verizon spokesman Scott Morris said the cut made up the bulk of 80 people who were laid off across the company. Morris says the workers were notified of the layoff on Thursday, but that their last day will be 30 days from now.

The Arkansas layoffs came as part of the process that Verizon is going through to identify redundant positions among its corporate staff. Morris says the layoffs were in human resources, finance, security and other areas.

Morris said Verizon has about 3,200 Arkansas employees.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. of New York and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.

Source: AP

Tata Steel cuts 366 jobs in UK

Tata Steel will cut 366 jobs in its Scunthorpe plant in the North Eastern part of England.

The process has already started and the management is in consultations with the employees and their representatives. This is the third job cut announced by Tata Steel in this calendar year and adds up to a 14 per cent job cut by Corus, out of a total employee strength of 41,800 in Europe.

Corus said that the job cuts are done “to improve the competitiveness of its Scunthorpe site by aligning employment cost with anticipated steel demand.”

Corus is running at almost half its capacity with a production cut of 47 per cent currently due to lower demand and may be looking at a further decline in steel demand in Europe.

Tata Steel Group has a target of reducing the costs by 700 million pounds in FY10. A large part of it is expected to come from the cost cutting measures on the wage bills. In January 2009, the company announced a job cut of 3500 workers, which would save 200 million pounds.

In June 2009, Tata Steel announced another round of layoffs at 2045 jobs, this is expected to reduce costs by 70-80 million pounds. The current job cut of 366 workers is expected to add to the cost cutting measures.

Tata Steel Group with a turnover of 12 billion pounds spends over 1 billion pounds in wage bills. Through the job cuts the company is reducing its wage bill by 20 per cent this fiscal.

It could increase further as the Teesside Cast Products has 1900 workers and the company may mothball the operations if the talks with the customers fail.

Corus follows a 90-day consultation period with the workers and most of their job cuts are under negotiations.

Source: NDTV Profit

AGCO Corp layoffs 154 hourly workers

AGCO Corp. of Hesston says it will lay off 154 hourly workers in response to a slumping agriculture market and world economy.

The layoffs, which were announced Wednesday, come after the agriculture equipment manufacturer laid off 60 full-time workers in early June.

The company also plans to reduce hours worked and shut down production three times in the last half of 2009.

Company officials are discussing with the state whether it can take advantage of the state's Share Work program, which would pay a percentage of wages for those whose hours have been cut.

AGCO employed 1,500 people before the layoffs. It is Harvey County's largest employer.

Source: Fox4kc