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Providence Journal lays off 23 full-time employees

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November 7, 2012 6:52 pm
By Paul Grimaldi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Providence Journal Co. laid off 23 full-time workers Wednesday as part of a cost-cutting effort, including 16 members of the Providence Newspaper Guild and 7 non-union employees.
The cutback represents 5 percent of The Journal's workforce. The reductions come about two months after 11 employees accepted a voluntary separation offer.
"Given a persistent softness in advertising revenue and the resultant impact on our earnings, it is necessary that we reduce our cost structure," said Howard G. Sutton, publisher, president and chief executive officer, in a statement. "It is always difficult to reduce staffing levels through layoffs, but it's necessary to ensure the future of the franchise."
Complete article at:
Providence Journal lays off 23 full-time employees | Business | providencejournal.com | The Providence Journalat:

November 8, 2012CVPH lays off 17 as part of fiscal belt-tightening

No patient-care positions cut

By JEFF MEYERSPress-Republican
PLATTSBURGH — CVPH Medical Center has handed pink slips to 17 employees.
The layoffs — nine in management and eight hourly staffers — are part of an effort to “help bolster the hospital’s financial position in 2013 and beyond,” the hospital said in a statement.
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CVPH lays off 17 as part of fiscal belt-tightening » Local News » Press-Republican

New Energy Lays Off 40 Employees

Published: Friday, November 9, 2012Indiana's oldest ethanol plant has shut down indefinitely.New Energy Corp. President Russ Abarr said the plant shut down last week, resulting in the layoff of 40 employees."We've been looking at what we can do and trying to avoid it," Abarr said. "The decision to lay off long-standing, dedicated employees of New Energy was extremely difficult.Abarr says an undetermined number of workers will stay on the job as the plant that opened in 1984 prepares to remain idle for at least several months.
Article at:
The Farmer's Exchange Online New Energy Lays Off 40 Employees

102 Utah miners laid off because of 'war on coal,' company says

Published: Thursday, Nov. 8 2012

EAST CARBON, Carbon County — A Utah coal company owned by a vocal critic of President Barack Obama has laid off 102 miners.
The layoffs at the West Ridge Mine are effective immediately, according to UtahAmerican Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Murray Energy Corp. They were announced in a short statement made public Thursday, two days after Obama won re-election.
The layoffs are necessary because of the president's "war on coal," the statement said. The slogan is one used frequently during the election by Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray, who was an ardent supporter of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Article at:
102 Utah miners laid off because of 'war on coal,' company says | Deseret News

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U.S. Cellular drops Chicago, cuts 640 local jobs
November 07, 2012

U.S. Cellular will sell markets including Chicago to units of Sprint Nextel Corp. for $480 million.
The move will result in 980 job cuts at U.S. Cellular, with 640 in the Chicago area, according to a spokeswoman. The cuts are slightly under 12 percent of the approximately 8,400 total employees U.S. Cellular had at the end of the third quarter.

Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...#ixzz2BiQ8pJcO

Vestas to cut 3,000 more jobs


By Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian
on November 08, 2012

Vestas Wind Systems is aiming to sell a stake of as much as 20 percent and shed another 3,000 off its headcount, more than doubling the number of jobs it plans to eliminate by 2013.

The announcement came as the Danish company reported disappointing financial results that sent its shares tumbling 13 percent.

The world's biggest wind turbine-maker said Wednesday that its third-quarter loss widened to 175 million euros ($225 million), compared with a loss of 60 million euros in the year-ago period. Analysts had forecast net income of 20 million euros, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Revenue increased 49 percent, to 1.99 billion euros.

Vestas, struggling to return to profit as overcapacity has squeezed margins, will trim its workforce to 16,000 by the end of next year, versus 22,721 in 2011, bringing its annual fixed cost savings to 400 million euros by the end of 2013. The company did not provide a regional breakdown of the job cuts.

In one sense, Oregon and Portland have already dodged several bullets with Vestas.

Portland was considered a front-runner in 2002 when Vestas was fishing for a place to land its North American manufacturing operations. Those plants went to Colorado, which subsidized the move and had seen employment slashed from 1,700 to 1,200 in recent months.

Oregon also lost a bid in 2008 to score a $25 million Vestas research center. That went to Houston, which offered an agreement with three universities. The company announced last week that the Houston center will close, along with two other R&D offices in Massachusetts and Colorado, cutting 85 more jobs.

Later in 2008, Oregon offered $19 million in incentives for Vestas to build a $250 million headquarters in the South Waterfront, in exchange for a promise of 850 new jobs. Vestas held off that expansion because of the economic slowdown.

Officials finally persuaded the company to take taxpayers' money in 2010, when Vestas agreed to a $66 million renovation of a former Meier & Frank building in the Pearl District to house its North American sales and service operations.

The city of Portland extended an $8 million interest-free loan to the developer, Gerding Edlen, to fund part of the renovation. The state kicked in an additional $2.25 million, including a $1 million forgivable loan from the governor's strategic reserve fund. That forgiveness was conditioned on the company retaining 398 jobs and creating 102 more over any eight consecutive calendar quarters between Oct. 1, 2008, and June 30, 2014.

If the company fails to do so, the October 2010 agreement requires Vestas to return part of the $1 million.

Vestas moved into the building this summer. For now, it remains Vestas sales and service hub in North America, but employment there has also been cut. The company says it employs "nearly 300" in the Pearl, down from "more than 300" in recent months, and 25 percent below the "nearly 400" at the beginning of the year.

Vestas is looking for an investor to help it weather falling turbine prices, Chief Financial Officer Dag Andresen said Wednesday.

"What's important is that we have investors who understand the company, the segment that we are working in and also have a longer-term view," he said from the company's headquarters in Aarhus, Denmark.

He and CEO Ditlev Engel declined to discuss talks announced in August about a potential "strategic cooperation" with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

Engel said he's bracing for a decline in orders next year in the U.S. as a tax credit supporting wind power expires. "We are preparing for it to be a very tough U.S. market in 2013," he told Bloomberg Television.

The production tax credit provides an incentive of 2.2 cents a kilowatt-hour for wind power. When it was allowed to lapse at the end of 2003, U.S. wind installations declined to 397 megawatts in 2004 from 1,670 megawatts in 2003. President Barack Obama has said he supports extending the credit.

The company's job losses include about 3,700 previously announced job cuts and 3,000 reductions announced Wednesday. Engel said some staff reductions will come through the selling of facilities, meaning Vestas workers may retain jobs by working for another company. Others will come from not filling vacant positions, he said.

Vestas closed at 26.65 kroner Wednesday in Copenhagen.
Vestas to cut 3,000 more jobs | OregonLive.com

President Obama's Global Stimulus Spree Creates Card Players LG

Chem, VESTAS, NISSAN,

100 Workers Lose Jobs As Caterpillar Closes Plant In Owatonna

11/08/2012
(ABC 6 News) -- An announcement by Caterpillar Inc. on Thursday will cost 100 employees their jobs. The world's leading manufacturer of Construction and Mining equipment will close its plant in Owatonna.Workers we spoke with say their last day will be March 1st, 2013. Caterpillar Inc., or CAT, says the decision came as a response to weak demand for their forestry manufacturing equipment.
"These decisions are never easy ones to announce/ they're not easy to hear so we understand and regret that- that our employees and their families are forced with this announcement," says CAT spokesperson, Rachel Potts.
Article at:

KAALtv.com - 100 Workers Lose Jobs As Caterpillar Closes Plant In Owatonna

Lets bring in some more illegal aliens and give them free housing,medical,food, and pay them to produce kids for money and kiss their nether parts for illegal votes.

Why does this mentality prevail in the small minds of politicians?

Exide to lay off 150 workers

Lead-recycling operations affected; plant could reopen later Exide Technologies announced Thursday that it will be idling its lead-recycling operations in Laureldale and laying off 150 workers, effective no later than March 31. Idling means that all of the permits and approvals will be kept up to date and the plant will be maintained in case Exide wants to reopen it later, said Susan Jaramillo, spokeswoman for Exide. The plant has been operating since the 1930s, Exide said. The company will continue to operate its plastics-recycling business with about 25 employees. "This decision was based on several factors, including the dramatic swings in the lead market and the high capital investment needed, due to regulatory requirements, to remain operational in Reading (Laureldale)," said Paul Hirt, president of Exide Americas. "By idling this facility, we can defer spending the capital while still having the majority of our internal lead demands met through our other three recycling centers in Vernon, Calif.; Canon Hollow, Mo.; and Muncie, Ind." The Laureldale plant recycles used lead batteries and reuses the materials to make new batteries. Workers at the Laureldale plant will have the opportunity to apply for jobs at other Exide facilities or get job-placement help, Jaramillo said. Employees were informed of the company's decision during an all-employee meeting Thursday. A 50-year-old employee said: "It's scary and I don't know what we're going to do. It's bad timing with the holidays coming up and I'm sure everyone is as upset as I am. I don't know where to go for jobs and there aren't that many around." Exide has a history of odor-control problems associated with its lead-smelting operation. Within the past decade, the company has been fined about $400,000 by the state for numerous violations. Still, the state Department of Environmental Protection renewed the plant's five-year air quality permit in 2010, stating that Exide had made several improvements to its operation and there have been fewer air quality-related complaints. Donna Hoover, 70, a Laureldale resident who had served on an environmental advisory committee concerning Exide, was in disbelief Thursday after hearing new of the company's plans. "I feel bad for the employees," she said, "but I have fought to get them in compliance for years." Laureldale Mayor Fred Feltenberger said, "I can't make a comment on it because I don't anything about it." Exide said it will continue to support all current, required environmental monitoring programs at the facility throughout the duration of the idling. Exide said it will meet with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection within the next few weeks to discuss the steps to be taken to implement the idling. (Reporter C. Ryan Barber contributed to this story.) Exide to lay off 150 workers

TE Connectivity to close Guilford plant, lay off 620

Matt Evans
November 8, 2012,

TE Connectivity, which makes electrical connectors for appliances and other devices, will close its factory in north High Point and eliminate 620 jobs, according to a company official.
The closure and layoffs will happen in phases through the end of 2013, said Tom Peacock, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania-based firm said. TE Connectivity (NYSE: TEL) was known asTyco Electronics until a name-change in 2011.
Peacock said the closure of the facility will not impact the company’s other Triad facilities, and 50 employees from the closing factory will be transferred locally. TE Connectivity has three other Triad facilities.
Peacock said work from the closing facility will be moved to plants in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Mexico and China.
“We need to improve operating efficiency as we see demand decline,” he said. “We are consolidating into those four other plants to be more efficient.”
Peacock said employees were notified of the impending closure and layoffs this morning. Severance arrangements will include temporary pay and benefits plus outplacement services.
Complete article at:
TE Connectivity to close Guilford plant, lay off 620 - Greensboro - The Business Journal