Results tagged “layoffs”

Mayor Bloomberg is set to reveal details of his budget for the new fiscal year (which begins July 1), and like recent budgets, the economy's downturn means it'll be rough with the city's projected $4 billion deficit. WCBS 2 reports that, according to sources, "The mayor intends to raise $900 million to close the budget gap by raising the sales tax half a percent," and explains, "The sales tax in New York City will now be 8.875 percent; of which only 4.5 percent is a city tax. The rest goes to the state and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority."

The Bronx Zoo wasn't joking around when they released a video of a porcupine being fired following some major budget cutbacks. The NY Post is now reporting that "the institution is closing four exhibits and shipping hundreds of creatures to zoos and aquariums around the country," including deer, bats, lemurs, antelopes, foxes and, yes, porcupines. Human lay-offs are also on the way.

Yesterday the Metropolitan Museum of Art sent out a statement announcing 74 layoffs at its stores (following 53 layoffs last year) with more to come from the museum's overall staff. The NY Times reports that as many as 250 full and part time jobs may be lost before summer. While the cuts will hit every department, including curatorial, Met officials have declared the changes won't affect the museum's hours, exhibitions or standards. On top of endowment losses, "the museum will receive $1.7 million less in operating help from the city this year and has been told to expect another cutback that could be as high as $2.4 million in the next fiscal year." With the recession hitting even the most prestigious of institutions these days, the paper notes that the layoffs are also in part due to problems that its merchandising arm have been facing. If you'd like to help, they also shared that membership renewals have been on the decline (wink wink, nudge nudge).

It's being reported that Viacom has been doling out more pink slips today. A tipster told Gawker earlier: "They are cleaning house at VH1/MTV right now. Like more than half the people involved with the website and the video just got laid off. Freelancers are being called in because when they hit their 9 month point they have to leave." Our sources tell us that "A few editors are being kept around for BestWeekEver.tv and the RealWorldDailies.com [ED.: PHEW!]. Everybody else in that group is gone. Thursday is the final Best Night Ever podcast. It is a shame people are losing jobs, and I guess let's blame the economy? But the podcasts were so cheap to produce, it's all sort of surprising considering how popular the iTunes podcast was and how other video content providers like the Onion News Network have been able to put ads into their podcast without much problem." Yeah, what gives, are companies just locked in a pink slip pissing contest at this point? We get it, we're all fired! ENOUGH!

While Mayor Michael Bloomberg is talking about 23,000 city jobs being on the line due to the budget crisis, the company he found announced that it will make the first layoffs in the company's history. The NY Times reports that 100 jobs will be eliminated "in Bloomberg’s radio and television divisions, which are being reorganized around the world. Most of those laid off are based in New York City, where Bloomberg has its headquarters. The cuts represent about 1 percent of the company’s more than 10,000 employees." However, the Bloomberg LP spokeswoman, who confirmed the company makes $6 billion in annual revenue, says that the cuts due to the recession and that the company is planning on about 1,000 new hires. The Mayor owns about 80-90% of Bloomberg LP.

There's more bad news for New York's animals, and the humans that take care of them: The Daily News is reporting that Bronx Zoo and New York aquarium staffs are facing layoffs in light of the proposed budget cuts. "As many as 130 staffers could be laid off," they told the paper, who reiterates that "The Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the facilities, is facing $15 million in government funding cuts from its $103 million annual budget this year, and the state will cut off all funding in 2010." The layoffs will hit everyone (and the porcupine was already let go), from administration to sales to groundskeeping—sending both union and non-union employees to the unemployment office. The news was delivered to staff yesterday by WCS President Steven Sanderson, who told the paper that, in the end, if they can't afford to keep the animals, "then we have to try to find a better place for them."

From the Commerce Department: New jobless claims jumped to a 26-year high. Claims were at 586,000 last week, the "highest since the week ended Nov. 27, 1982, when intial claims rose 612,000," according to Reuters. And the four-week average of new jobless claims (considered a better indicator of labor trends) is at 558,000—he "highest reading since December 1982." And while consumer spending rose a little, one economist tells Bloomberg News, "The increase in real spending is unlikely to be sustained with the job losses we are seeing," pointing out the gain in spending was "more a technicality based on the drop in gasoline prices." The stock market, which closes at 1 p.m., look like it'll make a modest gain today.

Kids, it's a cruel world out there. First they take away your TRL, and now this. Word is that Viacom has begun a "company-wide restructuring plan," which was announced via an email memo (after the jump) at 8:30 this morning, and means they're cutting down staff in all divisions. By the end of the corporate massacre, about 850 positions will have been eliminated. This shouldn't be too shocking considering the memos that led up to it and the fact that last year employees got royally scrooged when it came to holiday bonuses, and had to fight for their rights to insurance. But you're on notice, Redstone: Make any cuts to The City and we will cut you.

News that AT&T will cut 12,000 jobs--or 4% of its workforce--due to "economic pressures, a changing business mix and a more streamlined organizational structure," and DuPont will cut 2,500 employees is sending stock futures down, along with lower earnings forecasts from Merck, Nokia, and Credit Suisse. GM, Ford and Chrysler are headed back to D.C. to ask for a $34 billion bailout. And the Labor Department revealed that jobless claims fell "unexpectedly" by 21,000 (as in the actual jobless claims were 21,000 less than expected) last week, but that still means there were 509,000 jobless claims: "The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, a better gauge of underlying labor trends because it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose to 524,500 from 518,250 the week before, the highest since the week of Dec. 18, 1982, when a reading of 554,500 was recorded."

Two separate reports show that monthly layoffs are at their highest level in almost seven years. CNBC reports that outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas cites November job losses to be "181,671, up 61% from October and 148% higher than November 2007" while payroll company ADP says November job cuts were around 250,000. (Back in January 2002, layoffs were at 248,475.) And more are coming: In its takeover of Merrill Lynch, Bank of America may cut up to 30,000 jobs (they will cut at least 10,000), through layoffs, attrition, and sales of business units. With that news, stock futures are down.

Update: Here's the government's bailout plan for Citigroup: The government will invest $20 billion directly into Citigroup while also backing $306 billion in loans and securities (the Times says the plan is "complex"). In return, Bloomberg News says the government gets "$27 billion of preferred shares paying an 8 percent dividend."

Crain's says that Citigroup's announced 52,000-employee reduction is the "second-largest job cut ever undertaken by any company." (The largest one is from 1993, when IBM let go of 60,000.) Citigroup's job cuts--which many don't think are enough given its current condition--are global and some will be through asset sales (about half are layoffs). But Citi is NYC's "second-largest" employer "behind only the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System," according to Crain's.

There will probably be more sad guys on trading floors today: Stock futures are showing sharp declines, in part due to news that Citigroup may eliminate 50,000 people (or 14%) of its global workforce, mostly by selling assets. And Britain's Sunday Telegraph reports that JPMorgan Chase will have cut thousands of jobs next year. In the auto industry, which hopes for some government help, cash-strapped GM is selling back a 3% stake in Suzuki to raise $232 million. Referring the futures and prospects for today, City Index's chief market strategist told CNBC, "This baby is going down and it's going down fast. I see no reason for anyone picking up the baton this morning."

In announcing an update to the city's $59 billion budget today, Mayor Bloomberg detailed a wide range of painful budget cuts. With a "cumulative $4 billion budget gap for FY 2009 and FY 2010," the cuts include "$1.5 billion in savings achieved through spending reductions and other measures, rescinding the 7 percent property tax reduction immediately, and not issuing the $400 property tax rebate." After voting yesterday, Bloomberg told reporters that the cuts were needed to plug an anticipated $4 billion budget shortfall, saying, "We don't know just how deep this recession is going to go or for how long."

Today, the NY Times looks at how layoffs are beginning at a "broad array of businesses across the New York region." Basically, it distills everything you've been hearing, thinking and fearing.

After talk that Barclays would keep many Lehman Brothers employees on after buying the bankrupt firm's broker-dealer business, the AP reports the British firm "announced Monday that Lehman Brothers has begun to re-open for business under the ownership of Barclays Capital." However, according to the Post, "about 10,000 Lehman employees of the units that Barclays is buying were sent letters stating there will be no guarantees they will keep their jobs" and many are being interviewed. More: New York magazine has an article about a Lehman trader coping with "income shrinkage" and the Sun finds the NYC pension fund "lost $200 million since June from the collapse" of Lehman, Merill Lynch and AIG.

The fallout from Lehman Brothers' self-destruction meant employees spent the weekend and yesterday packing up their things and working on their resumes. The NY Times reported that the trading floor was a third empty and the "bankers’ dress code was mostly out: while a few holdouts kept their ties knotted firmly, most of the traders moved around in jeans, casual shirts, even sneakers. One young employee showed up in a green Lehman T-shirt."

Today, Lehman Brothers' shares fell as, per the NY Times, "reports that Lehman’s efforts to secure a strategic investment from Korea Development Bank...had failed." That sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average 280 points lower. And in other Wall Street news, an analyst believes that there will be many more layoffs to come. Crain's reports that Meredith Whitney of Oppenheimer believes there will be a bigger lay off rush than the dot-com bubble, "The slowdown in business today is far more pronounced and has been far more protracted than it was in 2001/02, hence we believe this resize will be at least equally painful."

Different media outlets report that investment bank Lehman Brothers will cut anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 jobs, about 5-6% of its 26,200 workforce. Dealbreaker reports that there have been rumors of layoffs for the past few weeks, and, per Bloomberg, "Lehmanites will hold on to their jobs for a little longer, at least until Lehman announces its third-quarter financial results." Lehman has already cut 4,000 jobs this year. Earlier this week, the NY Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote "When will Lehman Brothers die?", given its financial situation, but suggested "it may be too important to fail" because its chief Richard Fuld Jr. is on the board of director of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY.

It's the New York banking equivalent of the Enron meltdown: Bear Stearns has agreed to sell itself to JP Morgan Chase at a fire sale price. When Bear Stearns' 14,000 employees left work Friday afternoon, the bank's stock had already plunged almost 50% in value, closing at $30 a share. But today they found out something much, much, much worse: their company has been purchased for a piddling $2 a share. That's $236MM for a company that was "worth" $3.54 billion on Friday. That's a 93% discount on Friday's closing price, and a 99% discount off January 2007's price of $170/share. Given that Bear Stearns' midtown headquarters had been valued as high as $1.5 billion, the firm's liabilities must have been enormous.

Employees at FreshDirect’s Plant Operations warehouse voted overwhelmingly against unionization over the weekend. Given options of joining either the United Food & Commercial Workers, the Teamsters, or no union at all, 80 percent of the employees voted “no union.” The vote comes in the midst of an ongoing labor crisis at the warehouse; over one hundred undocumented workers were forced out earlier this month as FreshDirect announced an imminent inspection by Immigration and Customs Enforcement [I.C.E.].

Approximately 85 undocumented workers are being fired from the high-end grocery delivery company Fresh Direct on the on the eve of the holiday season because their status as U.S. residents is disputed. Dozens of workers filed out of the company's Queens warehouse. Fresh Direct blamed a federal probe for the axing of almost a hundred workers. According to the Daily News, "management insisted it carried out the purge under pressure from federal authorities to crack...

Yesterday Local One, the Broadway stagehands’ union, and the league of producers continued negotiations that had been stalled since last Sunday. Talks dragged on through the night and at 6:30am a union spokesman announced a 12 hour break. Though no details were given, it was said that “progress” had been made. An unnamed source told the Post that the two sides “had settled ‘the big issues’ and were continuing to hammer out details stalling a...

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing!

- And playwright Wendy Wasserstein died over the weekend

See the Mayor's speech at IHOP from his own site. The Harlem IHOP is at 135th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. And for other service industry perspectives, check out Waiter Rant.