Yay! They spoke up and showed their anger. Now the laid off employees who staged the Chicago sit-in are getting a break. Bank of America agreed to consider providing a limited amount of credit to Republic Windows and Doors so that they can pay severance and owed vacation pay to employees who were laid off last [...]
December 9, 2008
Today in Layoff Land
25 positions scrapped from the Boys & Girls Club Aluminum Alcoa laying off 60 The NFL is cutting 150 jobs American Greetings Corp. laying off 275 in Ohio 270 jobs cut in greater Baltimore Bombardier Recreational Products cuts 980 jobs in Canada Laird Technologies to lay off 500 in Hungary ImClone lets 50 go with [...]
December 9, 2008
BRIC Kicks Our Ass, China Sees a Future of Cheap Goods “Made in America”
Have you all heard of BRIC? The Goldman Sachs-coined acronym for the fastest growing economies in the world: Brazil, Russia, India and China? The BRIC countries have been hit by the worldwide economic crisis. But, unlike the U.S. which is now officially in a recession, they have all experienced economic growth—albeit drastically slowed down economic [...]
December 9, 2008
Cheers! Time’s Loss is The Daily Beast’s Gain
Yesterday Mediabistro’s Fishbowl NY got the scoop that Ana Marie Cox, founder of the “political comedy blog” Wonkette) has left Time’s Swampland blog. As Time Inc. continues it’s bloody gutting of personnel, Cox, by all indications, will be keeping busy. She’s writing up a storm over at The Daily Beast (Cox is one more “laid off” [...]
December 9, 2008
Will Obama Give This Lady a Job?
Christie Hefner will step down from Playboy Enterprises on January 31. The daughter of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Christie has been at the helm of the company for 2o years. She released an opaque statement, saying, “just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is [...]
December 9, 2008
… But the Booze Biz Booms!
Bar business may be lagging, but more people are saving money by buying their own booze to drink away their sorrows at home. One worker at Chicago’s Binny’s Beverage Depot, which sells alcohol in bulk says, “We’re pretty confident that the sales were going to increase because the liquor business in general suffers less in [...]
December 9, 2008
Restaurant Business In the Dumps
A few weeks ago, we shared with you the Los Angeles Times story on how you can support your local restaurant, even in these hard economic times. The article was full of useful tidbits like, “share an appetizer or main course. Skip dessert.” And, “It’s better to come in more often for a bite at the [...]
December 9, 2008
Laid Off Journalists Runner Up for “Media Person of the Year”
I Want Media’s Person of the Year for 2008 is Arianna Huffington. But “Laid off Journalists” were a runner up. The honor is decided by popular vote. 2007′s Person of the Year was “Writers on Strike.” The editors at I Want Media speculated, “One suspects that a number of the striking writers, with lots of spare [...]
December 9, 2008
8,000 to 16,000?
I saw earlier in the day that Sony is going to cut 8,000 jobs. Just now, I saw that number has doubled to 16,000. Okay, so I guess the initial number is just the amount of full-time employees getting cut and the second figure includes everybody else. Either way, that’s a lot of people.
December 9, 2008
Tribune Co. Goes Bankrupt
The Tribune Co., whose holdings include the Chicago Cubs, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, has filed for bankruptcy. We saw this coming, it was just a matter of when. Sam Zell bought the company last December, just as advertising revenue in newspapers and print publications began it’s swift and steep decline. His [...]
