Layoffs and furloughs. . . . . .

[charlie_the_tuna]

as we all know, the economy is going down like a lead balloon and i dont see it recovering. i dont know what will happen but i fear for my kids in the future. one day i wont be here to take care of them and who knows what comes next.
well, the MTA has been talking major cuts and although the LIRR (long island railroad) is so over managed, they have decided to start by cutting train service personel. the place is so top heavy with management, each department looks like this. a supervisor, a manager, a superintendant and a vice president. many departments have several of each.
well, they figure that since they run the trains from behind a desk, they will be laying off 60 engineers and 60 conductors next month and that is just the beginning. i believe the number of non-represented employees (management) being layed off (with buyout packages), is somewhere in the 20's or 30's.
while my job is safe, these are men and women who left careers for "security" and who just bought houses and just had kids and people who i have worked with day in and day out for the last few years.
right now the union talks of how they are doing everything in their power to see these layoffs dont take effect, it doesnt look good for these men and women.
no point really, just wanted to get this off my chest. this company pisses money away like you cant imagine but these people are about to lose their livelyhoods and there isnt a goddam thing we can do about it.
really sucks.

[phatdaddy]

i'm old enough to remember the tough times in the early 70's and the hiccup in the mid 80's and this one is totally different. in the other times, inflation was going crazy, tied directly to gas prices and interest was going through the roof(my first house note was at 12.5%, but cd's were getting 10%. now interest is almost non-existent and gas bounces all around ,but we still pay it). the price we pay for durable goods has gone up some, but the price we pay for services has gone through the roof. i mean insurance and taxes. i've also noticed a lot of the lay-offs are in middle management, the top dogs are not going to cut their own throats and they still need the worker bees to make the honey.

[reelapeelin]

Vote out the incumbent every chance you get...FORGET party lines...only way we'll ever show these low-life politicians who's in charge...if there's a career politician in your state, don't care Dem or Rep, vote his @$$ OUT!!...:bat:

[willy]

I feel it and see it every day around me, friends, family. If this November we don't vote these people enmasse out of office and stop this progressive march to a socialist society our country may be lost.
We need growth in our economy to stop this recession, we need a massive cut in government spending and we need to start paying off our debt.
We need to repeal this so called health care bill which has just set our government to take 2.7 trillion dolllars ffrom our people, cuts in medacaire and taxes on the very small buisnesses and corps that we need to grow to provide jobs.
We also need to cut back on the excesses in the government salaries and benefits.
The federal government especially is growing huge and the average salary for the fed workers is huge compared to their private sector counterparts.
We have turned topsy turvy and in november this has to change.

[parishht]

Well, I am living it, the division I work for has been sold to a Mexican company and
Thursday they told me that after August 31, I no longer have a job.
They say I am a redundent employee.

Out of 62 people in my office, they are only keeping 15.

They just don't understand the significance of what we do.

One of our contract employees put it this way:

If you give a monkey a diamond, he looks at it, smells it, tastes it, but throws it away, because he just does not understand what it is.

[willy]

Sorry Parish, sorry to hear that. You are going to see a lot more of that too. Companies will accelerate their foreign outsourcing with the new mandates and taxes that are coming.
every single thing that has been done the past few decades is leading to that. we are not buisness friendly or competitive in the world market place.
We produce very little now because a bunch of 1.50 an hour employees in the third world with no benefits etc. can produce it cheaper. We give buisness no incentive to stay here and produce. Many of the big multi-national companies have been moving their operations overseas where the cost and liabilities for doing buisness is greatly reduced.
In reality it is not their fault, a buisness is an entity where the entrprenuer creates something in order to make money and get ahead.
If you take away the ability to do so then they don't hire, they lay off, and eventually they either go somewhere where than can grow or they cease to exist. Next you end up with a nanny state cradle to death government controlled existence of mediocrity, it has been done many times inthe past century to utter failure and misery of their citizens.
That is why this country flourished, an experiment in small government where the people are free and able to dream and build and create.
We need to go back to that place

[chumbucket]

Same thing everywhere you look. My company is moving a huge portion of it's production to Brazil. This is includes my dept. The first cell of equipment is going to be starting dismantling in two weeks. I'm not sure what's going to happen in the next year or so.
What the greedy multi-national corporations don't get is the more jobs they outsource to increase profit margins, the more the economy is driven down. What's going to happen when the USA will not be able to afford to provide security protection in the developing nations that they are setting up business in? My company also recently started building a factory in Mexico right where all the drug wars are taking place as we speak. Americans being killed, taken for ransom. I can only imagine it'll be a matter of time before the drug lords realize the amount of money each truck container holds before they start hijacking them, then the corporations cry for help from the US govt. Sorry. We're flat busted.

[Blu_Lunch]

It really sucks up here in Connecticut, unemployment hit 9.1% last month. With Pratt and Whitney wants to bail out of this state along with Hamilton Sundstrand {Standard} Yesterday Marlin Firearms announced they are moving down south. The once thriving machine industries here is nearly gone , once even a few years ago you could walk in to any shop and get hired. I have over 25 years of manual and CNC aircraft machining experience. I got layed off 4/08 while I was on comp, I was cleared for work in 12/08 I'm still collecting UC there is no work what so ever here. I can find minimum wage job 40 hours of that I'll be taking another cut on money coming in, I have 20 weeks of UC left I praying for a job..........

[charlie_the_tuna]

i dont think its gonna get better gents. i dont know whats gonna happen but i think we are witnessing the beginning of the end. i hate to say it but build a 12 foot wall around your property and make sure your weapons are loaded because here comes total chaos.
i sure do hope i'm wrong but i think we have taken old mother earth for all she's worth and she just cant handle the current population. there will be anarchy and total lawlessness in the streets. eventually the world as we know it will come to an end. the old girl will heal herself and life will begin again.
sure wish i could be around to see it. should be something else.

[willy]

We will not, cannot let that happen to our country. We will rise above this and flourish. But we may have to grow a spine and do the hard things first for our kids. We will have to participate and vote, this November, we need to put in fiscally responsible people, Constitutional defenders and bring down the over burdening federal government to the level it was supposed to be at.
We need to stand together as neighbors and citizens, not build walls. Prepare ourselves and our families. Hold our politicians feet to the fire and participate, picket, carry a sign, join local tea party or 9/12 or other supporters of fiscal responsibility.
Unlike many other countries we hold the ultimate power

Vote

[parishht]

Chucky is right, a friend of mine was telling me about the government building local "forts" for riot control.
He did tell me the program, but I really didn't pay attention, next time I talk to him, I will get some more information.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Chucky is right, a friend of mine was telling me about the government building local "forts" for riot control.
He did tell me the program, but I really didn't pay attention, next time I talk to him, I will get some more information.

IIRC it is page 1312 of this POS obamacare health bill allows the o to now have his own military security force for his own personal use that answers to him independant of the military that we now have.

[cfelton]

I know how all yall feel. I was laid off December 31st, after 32 years of service to Union Camp/ International Paper Corp. Worked on Union Camp Swamp Logging job for 20 years and 12 years at the paper mill. Union Camp merged with International Paper in 1999. They built a new paper mill in Brazil, and that was the end of us! I've recently been going through the hiring process at Nucor Steel Mill in Hertford, N.C. Its been ongoing for 6 months and Im almost finished and ready ta start work! Good Luck to ALL of YOU!! Its tough!

[Blue_Runner]

I've been watching my friends in the tech industry lose their jobs ever since I started in '98. We have a layoff or two, or three, or four every year it seems. They don't discriminate either. It doesn't matter if you have 25 - 35 - 40 years with the company and it was your first job out of high school. The guy who got me on in '98, a family friend, was laid off last year after 35 years with the company and about to retire. My good friend was laid off and her last day was on the same day she got inducted into "club 25" for 25 years of service. All of our jobs went to India, the Phillipines and other 3rd world countries. Now the big push is to cut costs and do everything cheaper.

All a fella can do is work hard, pray...and comb his hair.

[parishht]

My hair is combed.

But before long I think I may take the route of the movie Office Space
and my daily uniform will be jeans and a T-shirt.

[bradford]

I work hard and pray, but no longer comb my hair. Mr. O should understand that I have my own personal security force. :beer:

[Blue_Runner]

Gotta comb that hair dawg!! :beer: