Thread: Recent Layoffs

American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc., a key auto parts supplier to General Motors, said May 28 that it will cut 2,000 laborers, roughly 55 percent of its hourly U.S. work force, after a new contract with the United Auto Workers union resolved a nearly three-month strike against the company.

Lehman Brothers will slash about 1,300 jobs globally amid difficult market conditions, a source says. The cuts are in addition to Lehman's layoffs of more than 5,000 people since mid-2007.

JPMorgan Chase is expected to replace at least 2,000 of its own employees with incoming Bear Stearns staffers, a figure that could grow to 4,000. Comments from Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon suggest the company has yet to decide the fates of about 3,500 Bear employees.

In an expected move, Morgan Stanley has begun cutting 1,500 domestic jobs as it struggles to contain market turmoil. The cuts at the nation's No. 2 investment bank are just the latest on Wall Street amid the global credit crisis that began last summer.

The "Rising Man" symbol stands in front of Medtronic's headquarters. The medical device maker said May 6 that it is planning to cut its workforce by about 1,100 jobs during the current fiscal year as part of a global restructuring.

Following Food and Drug Administration rejections of two of its proposed drugs, pharmaceutical firm Merck said May 5 that it will cut 1,200 sales representative jobs around the United States.

Sun Microsystems, the world's fourth-largest business computer maker, said on May 1 that it would trim its workforce by up to 2,500 jobs in the face of U.S. economic weakness.

In a first for Home Depot, the hardware and home improvement company announced May 1 that it will shut down 15 underperforming stores. About 1,300 employees will be affected.

Ride. The. Dive.

DEFINITELY NOT A PRETTY PICTURE. AND I FEAR (THE ABOVE) IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICE BERG.