Lots of manufacturing jobs going bye bye.
GM chief executive expects more job cuts
From Reuters
January 6, 2007
DETROIT —General Motors Corp. will cut more jobs this year as it closes plants and tries to wrench concessions from its major union in a crucial round of contract negotiations, Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said Friday.
Wagoner also said GM would not concede its ranking as the world's No. 1 automaker to Toyota Motor Corp. this year without a "fight for every sale."
GM, which lost $10.6 billion in 2005, cut more than 34,000 jobs last year and unveiled plans to close 12 plants and reduce recurring costs by $9 billion. Wagoner said more limited job cuts were possible in 2007.
"I don't rule out continued steps," Wagoner said when asked at a news conference about further job cuts this year. "I think it'll be a lot more through attrition than buyouts, but I wouldn't rule it out." GM will be looking for more concessions as it holds labor talks with the United Auto Workers union this year, aimed at clinching a new four-year contract.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gm6jan06,1,1648596.story?coll=la-headlines-business***************************************
Possible Job Cuts At Cooper Tire PlantWorkers at the Cooper Tire and Rubber plant in Texarkana are expecting to see changes that will whittle as many as 500 jobs from the plant this year.
Workers at the plant went on strike in 2005. The company announced in 2006 that it would convert the factory to a "flex plant" -- which will shift production levels to meet demand.
About 1,900 people work at the plant. Cooper Tire says it will make the conversion in the second quarter of this year.
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/16397702.htm***************************************
Layoffs At Wilson Plant Coming
Friday, January 5, 2007 03:24 PM - WBEN NewsroomWilson, NY (WBEN) - T. Marzetti, the parent company of Pfeiffer Foods in Wilson, says the company will undergo layoffs later this year.
The exact number and date are unknown, but up to 56 jobs could be eliminated. The company says a change in operations is affecting the layoffs. The company says production will be moved from the Wilson plant to other company plants nationwide.
http://www.wben.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=06580***************************************
Tweeter says sales slipped, plans job cuts
Boston Business Journal - 10:35 AM EST FridayTweeter Home Entertainment Group Inc. shares fell 4 percent in early trading Friday morning, after the company announced lower sales and job cuts.
The Canton, Mass., home electronics retailer said late Thursday that revenue fell 12 percent to $235 million in the fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, while same-store sales slipped 10 percent. Tweeter (Nasdaq: TWTR) had 154 stores at the end of the year, three fewer than it did a year ago.
In addition, Tweeter said it cut 20 percent of its overhead positions, which will result in annual savings of $6 million a year.
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http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2007/01/01/daily39.html***************************************
Housing Slump Means Layoffs in Huntington
Jan 5, 2007 10:05 AM HUNTINGTON, Ind. (AP) More than 100 workers have been laid off from a northern Indiana plant that makes electronic components for heating and cooling control units. United Technologies Electronic Controls cut the jobs of 112 hourly workers earlier this week.
A company spokeswoman says the cuts were necessary because of slumping sales in the new housing market. She says the workers will be recalled as sales increase. Officials say 87 of the laid-off workers volunteered. The union says it's the largest layoff ever of union workers at the plant. Before the layoff, the plant employed 750 people, including about 640 hourly workers.
http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=5896404&nav=0RYb***************************************
EMC increases planned job cuts to 1,350 from 1,250
Fri Jan 5, 2007 4:48pm SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - EMC Corp. (EMC.N: Quote, Profile , Research), the world's biggest data storage maker, said on Friday it plans to cut 1,350 jobs, 100 more than the company announced in October, and will post a pretax charge of $175 million.
EMC said it expects the employees to leave by the end of 2007. The company also sees about $30 million of write-offs of assets from which it no longer expects to derive any benefits.
EMC in October had announced a realignment that would result in the departure of about 1,250 employees and a fourth-quarter pretax charge of $150 million to $175 million, or 6 cents per share.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2007-01-05T214804Z_01_WEN1875_RTRIDST_0_EMC-LAYOFFS-URGENT.XML***************************************
Blount company laying off 180
Ceramaspeed to cut jobs in April or May as part of downsizing, manager says
By ROGER HARRIS, harrisr@knews.com
January 6, 2007Control systems manufacturer Ceramaspeed Inc. is laying off 60 percent of its Blount County work force.
The company announced Friday that 180 employees will lose their positions in the spring, leaving 120 jobs at its North American headquarters in Maryville.
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The job cuts are part of an ongoing downsizing of the company's Blount County operations and transfer of production to a Ceramaspeed plant in Monterrey, Mexico. Some "manual operations" have already been shifted to Mexico, and "automated production" operations will be moved to the Monterrey facility later this year.
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http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/business/article/0,1406,KNS_376_5260330,00.html***************************************
Whirlpool Continues Job Cuts, This Time in TN
By Lance Turner
1/5/2007 10:05:01 AM Whirlpool Corp. of Benton Harbor, Mich., which operates a manufacturing plant in Fort Smith, said Friday that it would eliminate 370 jobs in Cleveland, Tenn., as it moves production to other plants, including one in Mexico.
It's a story familiar to workers at the appliance maker's plant in Fort Smith, where the company has cut more than 1,600 jobs as it moved production south of the border. Whirlpool, which bought out Maytag Corp., also shuttered the Maytag plant at Searcy last year, leaving another 730 workers jobless.
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http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=96641.53038.108782
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KraftMaid layoffs
Tribune staff, wire reports
Published January 6, 2007KraftMaid Cabinetry Inc. has laid off several hundred workers at four locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania because of a slump in the housing market. Kathleen Volks, a spokeswoman for parent Masco Corp. in Taylor, Mich., was unable to confirm the number, but said she wouldn't dispute the figure of 400 mentioned by employees affected by the announcement.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0701060144jan06,0,5374809.story?coll=chi-business-hed***************************************
News Alert: White Rogers announces layoffs
News | Published on Friday January 5, 2007White-Rodgers in Batesville is reducing its workforce by about half, the company told the Guard Friday afternoon.
Dave Baldridge, spokesman for White-Rodgers, said about 80 employees were laid off just before Christmas and 150 more will be laid off.
The plant will continue to operate with remaining 260 employees.
Baldridge said that due to increasing competitive pressures, the downturn in the housing market and the general market conditions in the heating, ventilating, air conditioning and appliance controls industries, White-Rogers plans to transfer several product lines from its Batesville facility to other White-Rodgers manufacturing facilities in Mexico.
“This is purely an economic decision and is by no means a reflection on the performance of the Batesville plant, the management or any of the employees,” Baldridge said. “The plant will continue manufacturing operations in Batesville for its remaining product lines to serve our customers. These changes are expected to be finalized by mid-2007.”
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http://www.guardonline.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=37835&format=html***************************************
Flint near the top in job losses
Detroit lost the most jobs in the past year
WJRT By Cathy Shafran
FLINT (WJRT) - (01/05/07)-- The city of Flint once again finds itself near the top of the job loss list. The latest numbers were just released by the U.S. Labor Department and show Flint is number three for job losses in the country.
The Labor Department reviewed 367 metro areas. In the majority are around 300 areas which reported some type of increase in the number of jobs. A handful, six, had unchanged jobs figures.
Sixty of the 367 areas reported a decrease in the number of jobs in their community.
From this list of job losers, Detroit was by far the biggest loser - down some 26,000 jobs between November 2005 and November 2006. The St. Louis Area was second, down 3,300 jobs.
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=local&id=4909447***************************************
WHA head expects job cuts without federal funds—
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) -Wilmington Housing Authority officials say the loss of 800-thousand dollars in federal funds will mean cuts to services and programs.
W-H-A head Fred Purnell says layoffs will occur if President Bush and Congress don't reinstate the funds. The authority has 125 employees and had proposed hiring licensed security guards for the authority's facilities. But with the cuts, Purnell says that program has no funds to operate.
He says administrators would be the first to be laid off -- and the last would be housing managers who directly provide services to tenants.
http://www.wmdt.com/wires/displaystory.asp?id=57319012***************************************