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Toledo plans to layoff 300, including 75 officers

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Toledo is planning to layoff about 300 city workers to deal with a $20 million budget deficit.

Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner announced the cuts Friday. They include 75 police officers on top of the 75 officers the city already planned to let go.

Finkbeiner says some of the job losses could be avoided if union leaders agree to contract changes, such as pay cuts, or if city council took action to increase revenue.

The city also plans to force nonunion employees to take a 20 percent pay cut by going to a 32-hour work week.

Boeing issues 300 layoff notices

read article under copyright at link above

Qantas slashes profit estimate, plans mass job cuts

By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Qantas Airways said Tuesday it is cutting its fiscal 2009 earnings expectation by as much as 80% and plans to lower its flying capacity, reduce spending and eliminate up to 1,750 jobs in response to a major slump across the air travel industry.

"Market conditions have deteriorated, especially in our international business," said Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce. "We are experiencing significantly lower demand, particularly in premium classes, and considerable price pressures with extensive sales and discounting by all carriers."

The Australian flag carrier said it now expects its profit before taxes to fall to a range of A$100 million to A$200 million ($72 million to $145 million), compared to its previous forecast of A$500 million.

In the year ending June 2008, Qantas earned A$1.41 billion.

The new outlook "is subject to no further changes in market conditions, fuel prices, and volatility in hedge accounting results," Qantas said in a statement.
But Joyce added that, looking ahead, "Qantas expects the current volatility in operating conditions to continue for some time," and that "these volatile market conditions make it difficult to provide forecasts."

The company also said the capacity reductions and related restructuring will likely impact up to 1,250 full-time jobs, and it plans to remove an additional 500 management positions.

Qantas said it will minimize redundancies for the 1,750 positions by utilizing workforce initiatives, but "some redundancies will be unavoidable and will lead to additional restructuring costs in 2008/2009."

It said it also will reduce its flying capacity by around 5% and ground up to 10 aircraft.

Shares of Qantas (AU:QAN: news , chart , profile ) touched a low of A$1.74 before closing 2% higher at A$2, tracking the broader gains in Sydney, where Australia's S&P/ASX 200 finished with a gain of 2.2%.

Following the airlines' announcement Tuesday, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its corporate credit ratings on Qantas to BBB/A-3 from BBB+/A-2 and said its rating outlook on the company remains negative.

Moody's said its downgrade to Baa2 from Baa1 in February anticipated the reduced earnings outlook.

Myra P. Saefong is MarketWatch's assistant global markets editor, based in Tokyo.

Navistar to lay off final 345 employees in Chatham

The Canadian Press

CHATHAM, Ont. — Layoff notices have been issued to the remaining 345 employees at the Navistar truck plant in Chatham, Ontario.

The layoffs are due to take effect June 27th -- three days before the workers' current contract expires.

The company is required by law to issue the notices.

Bargaining on a new contract is expected to start early next month.

Already this year, Navistar has had two rounds of layoffs covering almost 700 workers at the plant.

The heavy truck industry is being hit hard by the U-S recession and the slumping Canadian economy.

Last year, rival Stirling Truck announced the closing of its plant in St. Thomas, Ontario, resulting in the loss of about 2,000 jobs.

CMS announces 107 more layoffs

The cuts, including math and science coordinators and ESL assistants, save $4.3 million, bring total job loss to 213.
By Eric Frazier


CMS Superintendent, Dr. Peter Gorman speaks to the 24-member Athletic Eligibility Advisory Committee Thursday afternoon. TODD SUMLIN - tsumlin@charlotteobserver.com
To purchase this photo | Browse our store

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has added 107 more employees to its layoff list, this time including math and science coordinators and English as a Second Language assistants.

The cuts, announced Friday afternoon by Superintendent Peter Gorman, will save the district $4.3 million.

“The economic downturn is forcing the district to make some very hard decisions about trimming our expenses,” Gorman said in a statement. “And because so much of our budget is tied up in people, these cuts are necessary.”

Officials have said they need to cut as many as 534 jobs from the 2009-10 budget to make up for a multi-million dollar shortfall brought on by the recession. In all, CMS is considering cuts that could total more than $86 million.

“We've been meeting with people on an ongoing basis,” Gorman said earlier this week. “In some cases, we meet with groups. In some cases, the meetings are one-on-one. We are working hard to respect the integrity of our employees. This is a difficult time for them.”

Some educators with career status, more commonly known as tenure, are concerned that initial layoff letters from CMS didn't spell out their state-mandated rights, including the right to a hearing before the school board.

Chief Operating Officer Hugh Hattabaugh said Gorman was sending letters Friday to employees clarifying how the layoffs could affect them and informing them of their legal rights.

Charlotte attorney John Gresham said he's been contacted by “five or six” affected educators, and is waiting to see what the latest letter says. But so far, he said, “the message that's been coming out has left a number of employees very concerned.”

Classroom teachers were again spared, but more than 300 could find themselves among later rounds of cuts if money from the federal stimulus or other sources doesn't alter the budget picture.

Gorman said in an e-mail to all employees that some information about the stimulus money is starting to trickle down from the federal government, but “it's still impossible to be sure what relief, if any, CMS will get.”

Other positions cut this week and announced Friday include career and technical education coordinators and “behavior modification technicians” who help deal with disruptive students. Friday's cuts also include jobs from finance, curriculum and instruction and family services, as well as schools.

Last week, CMS cut 106 jobs from the superintendent's office, communications, accountability, curriculum and instruction, the six “learning community” offices scattered around the county and the Achievement Zone, which oversees 11 struggling schools.

Taken with the cuts announced Friday, CMS has eliminated 213 jobs and saved $11.9 million. Only 30 of the jobs were vacant.

CMS has about 19,000 full-time employees serving its 174 schools. Last year's budget totaled $1.2 billion. Gorman will present his 2009-10 budget proposal to the school board later this month. The county commission will give final approval.

600-plus get layoff alerts from TUSD

More than 600 employees were notified Friday that they are part of a massive layoff in the Tucson Unified School District.
Of the district's 3,800 certified employees, including teachers, librarians and counselors, 560 received notice that they'll be getting their pink slips if the Governing Board approves the list Tuesday.
Sixty-five of the district's 182 administrators, from principals to department directors, also were given notice.


While the layoffs were anticipated given the potential for deep state budget cuts, slipping student enrollment and the fact that employees needed to be notified by April 15 if they were going to receive a contract for the next school year, the list went deeper than many had expected.
All teachers in their first, second and third years with the district were given notice, with the exception of teachers in alternative education, special education and hard-to-fill positions such as highly qualified math and science teachers.
Last year at this time, only 40 elementary teachers were put on notice. But this year, the district is reacting to a worst-case scenario of a $63 million hit.
The pink slips might not be permanent, though. Alyson Nielson, TUSD's director of employment services, said the district will begin hiring employees back as soon as more information becomes available on the budget.
"We are trying to be conservative, but once we become a little more confident as the budget takes shape, we can start getting teachers back into positions. I expect we'll be in a situation to begin to recall staff before the school year is even out."
That doesn't mean it won't be disruptive.
Many principals have made conscious hiring decisions and have invested time in training teachers to match their own expectations. And because staff callbacks will be done largely by seniority and certification, schools won't necessarily get back their original staffers.
And some schools will be more profoundly impacted than others.
Dodge Middle School, which has a mature teaching stable, doesn't have teachers on the list, although like all of the other schools it has to make plans to cut its budget by 18 percent. Those plans are due to the district April 30. Principal Cathy Comstock said she expects in the worst case to lose an assistant principal and a librarian, but her staff otherwise wasn't immediately affected by the layoffs.
John Bellisario, the principal at Valencia Middle School, meanwhile, is losing 30 percent of his teachers. The far Southwest Side school is in a high-poverty area, has struggled with an "underperforming" label for two years and has high teacher turnover.
Bellisario, in his first year at the school, said it's a different campus already under his leadership. But he's worried about the impact the cuts will have.
"I'm really concerned because we have done a lot of work with professional development with our staff," he said. Getting a new staff, he said, "will be like starting from scratch. We've made a lot of progress and come a long ways, so this is a setback."
Nielson said the human-resources staff is trying to be sensitive to such concerns. Teachers who are part of the layoffs are filling out forms listing school preferences and credentials.
"Somebody at Broadway and Houghton, for example, would have a hard time getting to a school on the other side of town," she said. "We're going to try to work within those preferences."
Same with teaching philosophy. Teachers at Drachman Montessori Magnet, for example, have to be comfortable with Montessori methods, while teachers at Cholla High Magnet School should have some familiarity with its focus on International Baccalaureate programs.
"We might be biting off more than we can chew," Nielson acknowledged, given the scope of the layoffs, "but we're going to work really hard to make sure we find the best fit possible."
Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at 806-7754 or rbodfield@azstarnet.com.

UNEMPLOYMENT SKYROCKETS TO 8.5%

HIGHEST RATE SINCE 1983

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since late 1983, as a wide swath of employers eliminated 663,000 jobs. It is fresh evidence of the toll the recession has inflicted on America's workers, and economists say there's no relief in sight.

If part-time and discouraged workers are factored in, the unemployment rate would have been 15.6 percent in March, the highest on records dating to 1994, according to Labor Department data released Friday.

The average work week in March dropped to 33.2 hours, a new record low.

"It's an ugly report and April is going to be equally as bad," predicted Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

Last month's tally of job losses was slightly higher than the 654,000 that economists expected. The rise in the unemployment rate matched expectations.

Employers cut 651,000 jobs in February when the jobless rate was 8.1 percent, the same as initially estimated. January's job losses, however, were revised much higher, to 741,000 from 655,000.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the U.S. economy has lost a net total of 5.1 million jobs, with almost two-thirds of the losses occurring in the last five months.

The number of unemployed people climbed to 13.2 million in March. In addition, the number of people forced to work part time for "economic reasons" rose by 423,000 to 9 million. Those are people who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or were unable to find full-time work.

Looking forward, economists expect monthly job losses continuing for most -- if not all of -- this year.

However, they are hoping that payroll reductions in the current quarter won't be as deep as the roughly 685,000 average monthly job losses in the January-March period.

In the best-case scenario, employment losses in the present quarter would be about half that pace, some economists said. That scenario partly assumes the economy won't be shrinking nearly as much in the present quarter.

The deterioration in the jobs market comes despite a few hopeful signs recently that the recession -- now the longest since World War II -- could be easing.

Orders placed with U.S. factories actually rose in February, ending a six straight months of declines, the government reported Thursday. Earlier in the week, there was better-than-expected reports on construction spending and pending home sales. And last week a report showed that consumer spending -- an engine of the economy -- rose in February for the second month in a row -- after a half-year of declines.

But as the economic downturn eats into their sales and profits, companies are laying off workers and resorting to other cost-saving measures. Those include holding down hours, and freezing or cutting pay, to survive the storm.

Job losses were widespread last month. Construction companies cut 126,000 jobs. Factories axed 161,000. Retailers got rid of nearly 50,000. Professional and business services eliminated 133,000. Leisure and hospitality reduced employment by 40,000. Even the government cut jobs -- 5,000 of them.

Education and health care were the few industries showing any job gains.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession could end later this year, setting the stage for a recovery next year, if the government is successful in bolstering the banking system. Banks have been clobbered by the worst housing, credit and financial crises to hit the country since the 1930s.

Even if the recession ends this year, the economy will remain frail, analysts said. Companies will have little appetite to ramp up hiring until they feel the economy is truly out of the woods and any recovery has staying power.

Given that, many economists predict the unemployment rate will hit 10 percent at the end of this year. The Fed says unemployment will remain elevated into 2011.

Economists say the job market may not get back to normal -- meaning a 5 percent unemployment rate -- until 2013.

"There's going to quite a long haul before you see the jobless rate head down," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services.

To brace the economy, the Fed has slashed a key bank lending rate to an all-time low and has embarked on a series of radical programs to inject billions of dollars into the financial system.

And the Obama administration had launched a multi-pronged strategy to turn the economy around. Its $787 billion stimulus package includes money that will flow to states for public works projects, help them defray budget cuts, extend unemployment benefits and boost food stamp benefits.

The administration also is counting on programs to prop up financial companies and reduce home foreclosures to help turn the economy around.

Still, skittish employers announced more job layoffs this week.

3M Co., the maker of Scotch tape, Post-It Notes and other products, said it's cutting another 1,200 jobs, or 1.5 percent of its work force, because of the global economic slump. Fewer than half the jobs will be in the U.S., but include hundreds in its home state of Minnesota. The 1,200 figure includes cuts made earlier in the first quarter.

Elsewhere, healthcare products distributor Cardinal Health Inc. said it would eliminate 1,300 positions, or about 3 percent of its work force, and semiconductor equipment maker KLA-Tencor Corp. said it will cut about 600 jobs, or 10 percent of its employees.

The Job Market: April 2009

I didn't make the time to blog about the job market last month instead making time to talk to job hunters and work on a new site (www.freejobsearchtips.info) and the re-launch of TheResumeUniverse.com.

So I have a little bit of catching up to do.

The State of The Job Market (sounds like a Presidential address) is pretty well known:

Job cuts in January were over 740000
Job cuts in February were over 640000
In March, another 633000 workers lost their jobs (ADP believes the number was over 700000; we'll see if the government revises the figures further downward in the next few months

All told, unemployment is reported at 8.5%. That does not include people who are no longer collecting benefits or small business owners who are no longer paying themselves.

Unemployment rates were higher in February than a year earlier in all 372 metropolitan areas surveyed by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics

In summary, more than 13 million people are counted as being out of work and there is little that I am seeing to indicate that the employment picture is improving. Understand that, although my office is hubbed in the Northeast, the work that our firm is doing in recruiting is national in scope. Every part of the country is being severely impacted in every almost every field except one--health care.

Clearly, the health care industry has enormous labor shortages. Positions available are not simply for physicians but nurse practitioners, people to work in hospital administration, pharmacists . . . the list is long and seemingly endless.

Professionals in the energy industry is another high demand area currently.

I think the next demand area is going to be consultants . . . temps . . . people working on a temp-to-perm basis.

You see, comes the summer, companies will be dealing with vacation schedules and work slippages (we have a project due by January and we're already behind on it. Let's get some people in to help). If we sat and one other thing, I think we will have turned the corner. If not, like Punxsutawney Phil (for my overseas readers who may not follow this uniquely American tradition--Phil is a groundhop used to predict whether winter will be short or long), we will be in for a cold winter this year and a tough year next, too.




Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2009 all rights reserved.

Nokia to Layoff 1700 Worldwide

Nokia Corp. said Tuesday it will lay off 1,700 people worldwide to cut costs, as the global economic downturn strikes deeper into the mobile phone sector.

The world’s top mobile phone maker said the job cuts will affect several sectors, including its devices and markets units, the corporate development office and global support functions.

“The number of employees we have to reduce is 1,700,” Nokia spokeswoman Arja Suominen said, adding that details would be announced after the company begins negotiations with employees.

Nokia shares fell 2 percent in Helsinki to close at euro8.65 ($11.25) after the announcement, which came as the industry bellwether continues to struggle with falling demand and handset prices.

In January, Nokia warned of major cost-cutting measures after its fourth-quarter net profit crashed 70 percent to euro576 million ($744 million). It also lost market share, which fell to 37 percent from 38 percent in the previous quarter and 40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Nokia said it would aim for annual savings of euro700 million at its handset unit, but gave no details at the time.

Last month, Nokia said it will close a research center, ax up to 320 jobs and temporarily lay off 2,500 workers in Finland. It also announced a global voluntary resignation program, open to employees until May 31, in a move aimed at cutting personnel by 1,000.

It has also said it plans to increase short-term unpaid leaves and sabbaticals, and has appealed to employees to accept holiday time as payments, instead of cash, for overtime work in 2009.

Based in Espoo near Helsinki, Nokia last year remained the No.1 cell phone maker selling 468 million handsets, up 7 percent on 2008. It employs 128,400 people worldwide.

Toro Co. to lay off about 235 from Tomah site

MADISON, Wis. - The Toro Co. has told Wisconsin officials it will lay off about 235 workers from its Tomah site next month.

The Bloomington, Minn., company makes products for landscape maintenance.

A Toro executive told Wisconsin officials in a letter last week the layoffs are expected to occur on or about April 20.

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development released Toro's letter on Tuesday, as well as notices from three other companies.

Potash Corp. extends layoff of 940 workers

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan plans to extend the temporary layoff of 940 workers who were let go in January.

The layoff covers workers at Potash’s Saskatchewan plants in Rocanville, Lanigan and Allan.

Workers at those fertilizer sites were initially laid off for eight weeks.

The extended layoffs come one day after Potash said it is reducing its 2009 potash production by an additional 1.5 million tonnes, bringing the total expected cut of its capacity to at least 3.5 million tonnes this year.

With inventories in its key markets expected to be mostly depleted in the second quarter of this year, the company said it is expecting a strong rebound in potash demand in the second half of 2009 that should continue into 2010.

“Farmers, like other consumers, have been on a buying hiatus but they cannot remain on the sidelines indefinitely,? said PotashCorp CEO Bill Doyle.

?People need to eat, farmers need to grow and sell crops, and maintaining soil fertility is essential for those things to happen,” he said in a release.

With files from Canadian Press

Bellevue Center developer asks for year delay for overhaul
Sask. legislative sitting expected to be all about the economy
Autoworkers feel stuck between buyouts, possible future cuts

CAT Announces More Layoffs

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) plans to lay off 2,454 employees across 5 plants in Illinois, Indiana and Georgia to cut costs amid recessionary conditions.

The stock is trading marginally down 0.5% while volumes are at lower-than-average levels. The world’s largest manufacturer of mining and construction equipment said the layoff will impact 2,365 support and management workers for 6 months, while 89 will be let go permanently.

CAT had announced the elimination of 22,000 positions in January coupled with an up to 50% reduction in executive compensation.

Analysts have already slashed fiscal 2009 earnings estimates by 8 cents over the past month and by $2.22 over the past 60 days.

CAT is currently a Zacks #5 Rank ("Strong Sell") stock.

Caterpillar To Layoff Hundreds In Indiana

Follow link to article under copywright

March 6: Stocks end mixed after jobs report

Employees: Halliburton Layoffs in the Hundreds

Layoffs Announced at Northrop Grumman

Spansion Layoffs 3,000

Layoff Worries 02-27-09

HSBC CLOSES LENDING UNITS; 6,100 CUT

By KAJA WHITEHOUSE

Last updated: 4:20 am
March 3, 2009
Posted: 4:20 am
March 3, 2009

Getting a loan just got a lot tougher.

British bank HSBC, often referred to as the nation's second-largest provider of US consumer loans, announced yesterday that it's shuttering two units dedicated to consumer lending.

The closure of the two units - HFC and Beneficial - will result in 6,100 job losses and the closing of 800 branches that provide mortgage refinancing and personal loans, among other forms of debt financing.

Beneficial has three branches in the New York area, including one in Brooklyn and another in Sunnyside, Queens, according to the firm's Web site. HFC also has three branches in the region, including one in Bayside, Queens.

HSBC's bank branches, which are scattered throughout Manhattan and the boroughs, won't be affected. HSBC will continue to underwrite residential mortgages through the bank branches, said a spokeswoman for the company.

The move comes as the parent company, HSBC Holdings, reported a 70 percent drop in 2008 net profit amid losses tied to the US mortgage and subprime loans.

The company, one of the few to have avoided a government bailout, is seeking to raise $17.7 billion from shareholders through a share sale.

JPMORGAN TO AX 12K

By PAUL THARP

Last updated: 11:54 pm
February 26, 2009
Posted: 12:00 am
February 27, 2009

JPMorgan Chase plans to eliminate 12,000 jobs as it swallows failed bank Washington Mutual.

The financial giant said it expects to save about $2 billion by combining operations of the two firms, with about $1.35 billion saved in payroll alone.

Shares of JPMorgan jumped nearly 10 percent on the moves before settling at $23.05, a 6 percent rise.

Most of the cuts will come from Washington Mutual, with as many as 2,000 from JPMorgan's investment banking arm, officials said.

Jobless claims spike to 26-year high

Number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits rises to 667,000. Continuing claims top 5 million for the first time.

By Lara Moscrip, CNNMoney.com contributing writer

Last Updated: February 26, 2009: 9:12 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment insurance spiked, and those living on unemployment benefits hit a record high, according to a government report released Thursday.

For the week ended Feb. 21, 667,000 Americans filed initial jobless claims, up 36,000 from a revised 631,000 the previous week. That's the highest figure since October 1982.

Economists polled by Briefing.com were expecting claims to drop to 625,000.

In a sign that more jobless Americans are having trouble finding work, 5,112,000 continued on unemployment for the week ended Feb. 14, the most recent data available. That's the highest number since the Labor Department began keeping records since 1967.

Initial claims are expected to sharply increase, and it's likely they will reach 750,000 per week in the upcoming months, according to Ian Shepherdson, economist at High Frequency Economics in New York.

He noted that weekly filings, adjusted for population growth, would have to exceed the 1 million mark in order to break the jobless claims reported from the mid-1970s and early 1980s.

"We fervently hope that does not happen but we are not confident. Companies are throwing in the towel as they recognize that no sector is safe," Shepherdson wrote in a note.

The 4-week moving average of initial claims was 639,000, an increase of 19,000 from the preceding week. The average is used to smooth fluctuations in data.

The 4-week moving average for people continuing on unemployment was 4,932,250, an increase of 89,250 from 4,843,000 in the previous week.

The insured unemployment rate is 3.8%, nearly double the 2.1% rate from a year ago.

Stimulus: The stimulus bill that President Obama signed into law has several provisions that help those living on unemployment benefits.

The weekly unemployment benefit will temporarily increase by $25 on top of the roughly $300 jobless workers currently receive.

In addition, the first $2,400 of benefits in 2009 would be exempt from federal income taxes.

The stimulus also provides jobless workers with an additional 20 weeks in unemployment benefits, and 13 weeks on top of that if they live in what's deemed a high unemployment state.

Nokia seeks 1,000 voluntary layoffs

Read article by following link to article under copywright

Washington jobless rate jumps to 7.8%

Washington’s unemployment rate jumped to 7.8 percent in January from 7.1 percent in December, the state’s Employment Security Department reported Tuesday, in another sign of the deepening recession.

In January, an estimated 303,570 people were jobless and looking for work in Washington – the largest number ever in the state.

“These are rough times for the unemployed, but it’s also an opportunity to get some training for a new career,” said Employment Security Commissioner Karen Lee.

The biggest declines were seen in manufacturing, information services, construction, motor vehicles and parts dealers, and truck transportation.

Washington's January unemployment rate of 7.8 percent was higher than the national unemployment rate of 7.6 percent. Washington's jobless rate was up significantly from a year ago, when it was 4.5 percent.

In the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett area, the unemployment rate was 6.8 percent, up from 6.2 percent in December. In January 2008, the Seattle area's jobless rate was 3.7 percent.

Pierce County had 9.1 percent unemployment rate in January, Snohomish County was 8.5 percent, and King County was 6.7 percent. Spokane County had 9.6 percent unemployment rate.

The state lost an estimated 7,000 seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs in January.

The Employment Security Department characterized the January unemployment numbers as a preliminary estimate. The department normally receives unemployment data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, but the January data was delayed due to a computer project. Employment Security said it generated its own January data using a “computer model that historically has closely matched the official number.”

Canada loses record 129,000 jobs

Unemployment rate hits 7.2 per cent

BY PAUL VIEIRA, FINANCIAL POST

Read article under copywright by following link

Suozzi proceeding with cuts, layoffs despite stimulus

BY SID CASSESE | sid.cassese@newsday.com

9:10 PM EST, February 17, 2009

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi (Photo by Howard Schnapp / February 3, 2009)

Despite the expectation of up to $127 million in federal stimulus cash over 27 months, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi said Tuesday he will proceed with painful cuts and layoffs if he can't get the union concessions he wants this week.

But leaders of county employee unions shot back that Nassau should direct more stimulus money to ameliorate service cuts and layoffs. The leaders are scheduled to continue negotiations tomorrow with Suozzi administration officials.

Suozzi already has budgeted $50 million in increased federal Medicaid aid to help fill an estimated deficit of $130 million to $150 million this year. He is pushing state lawmakers to approve another $30 million in new taxes and fees.

But even if Nassau ends up getting somewhat more in Medicaid aid than anticipated, Suozzi argued yesterday that the unions still will have to agree to salary cuts or layoffs to close the budget gap.

Suozzi proceeding with cuts, layoffs despite stimulus

BY SID CASSESE | sid.cassese@newsday.com

9:10 PM EST, February 17, 2009

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi (Photo by Howard Schnapp / February 3, 2009)

Despite the expectation of up to $127 million in federal stimulus cash over 27 months, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi said Tuesday he will proceed with painful cuts and layoffs if he can't get the union concessions he wants this week.

But leaders of county employee unions shot back that Nassau should direct more stimulus money to ameliorate service cuts and layoffs. The leaders are scheduled to continue negotiations tomorrow with Suozzi administration officials.

Suozzi already has budgeted $50 million in increased federal Medicaid aid to help fill an estimated deficit of $130 million to $150 million this year. He is pushing state lawmakers to approve another $30 million in new taxes and fees.

But even if Nassau ends up getting somewhat more in Medicaid aid than anticipated, Suozzi argued yesterday that the unions still will have to agree to salary cuts or layoffs to close the budget gap.

GM, Chrysler Restructure with Layoffs, Plant Closures

Detroit

DETROIT-Tuesday, General Motors and Chrysler submitted the first part of their plan for viability to the federal government. The companies requested an additional $14 billion to bail them out of their financial crisis and vowed to cut jobs and close plants.

GM’s plan involves the elimination of 47,000 additional jobs, from its current worldwide workforce of 244,000. Roughly, 21,000 US employees will lose their jobs in this round of layoffs. Between 2000 and 2008, GM shuttered 12 manufacturing facilities in the US. It has plans to close an additional 14 plants, which is five more than it planned to eliminated in December. When the closures complete by 2012, GM will own 33 North American plants. It is uncertain at this time which plants will be closing.

Additionally, GM plans to re-shape its dealer network with fewer and better located dealerships. From 2004 to 2008 dealerships declined from 7,367 to 6,246, a 15% reduction. Current plans will accelerate dealership reduction by an additional 25%. This will mean decreasing the total number of US dealerships from 6,246 to 4,700 by 2012. An additional 600 dealerships could be eliminated by 2014.

In December GM asked the federal government for $18 billion to help make the company viable again. It is now adjusting that number, requesting an additional $7.5 billion worth of government aid and a $4.5 billion US secured revolver credit facility. Repayment of the $30 billion worth of loans would begin in 2012, according to current plans.

"The U.S. and global auto industries are facing times of unprecedented challenge," says GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, in a release. "These conditions dictate that we must take very tough actions to accelerate GM's restructuring efforts. The plan we delivered today to the US Treasury is aggressive but achievable. It provides a clear pathway for GM that continues to support American manufacturing and technology innovation, which are vital to the future of our nation's economy."

Chrysler has plans to eliminate an additional 3,000 jobs. At the end of 2008, Chrysler had already reduced its workforce by 37%, for a total of 32,000 layoffs. The company will also discontinue three vehicle models. For its part, Chrysler has requested an additional $2 billion government loan, on top of it’s original $7 billion request. The company is still working with Italy’s Fiat to bring the Italian automaker into the mix as a strategic alliance partner. The non-binding agreement gives Fiat a 33% control of the company, with the possibility of taking 55% control down the road.

“We believe the requested working capital loan is the least-costly alternative and will help provide an important stimulus to the U.S. economy and deliver positive results for American taxpayers,” Chrysler officials said in a statement. “This plan will ensure the continued provision of health care and pension benefits to our active employees and retirees, while continuing to protect hundreds of thousands of middle class, quality American jobs at Chrysler, our dealer network and our suppliers."

Tech Layoffs Surge to 300,000

Layoffs in the tech sector are accelerating. It took exactly three weeks for tech layoffs to surge to 300,000, according to our Layoff Tracker. Since late January, when the tracker hit 200,000 layoffs, another 100,000 job eliminations have been announced or completed. In contrast, it took five weeks for layoffs in the tech industry to hit the 200,000 mark, and four months for layoffs to hit 100,000 last December. The total number of layoffs since we began tracking since the financial crisis began in late August is 300,093.

The past few weeks have particularly brutal for the technology space, with substantial layoffs announced by Pioneer (10,000), Cisco (3,000), Panasonic (15,000), NEC (20,000), Electronic Arts (1100) and AOL (700). Even Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, who both managed to avoid layoffs in the past few months, were forced to make cuts to their workforces. And Google, who was immune to layoffs until late January, continued giving pink-slips in the past three weeks with the company’s exit from radio. Sadly, a few start-ups weren’t able to weather the storm, with eBaum’s World cutting all of its workforce.

Obviously the tech industry is not immune to the current economic climate, and if the past three weeks are any indication, things could still get worse for the tech space before they get better. Maybe that economic stimulus plan will help turn the tide.

If you know of any layoffs at a tech company, please submit a tip with the name of the company and number of layoffs. If it’s been covered, also send a link to the blog post or news article. (For who is hiring, check out our job board).

Air France KLM to Layoff 1200 more Staff

Air France KLM has admitted that they plan to axe another 1,200 jobs, which comes after their announcement of a sharp increase in losses for the 3rd quarter. A week following the announcement from British Airways of an £85 billion loss during the 3rd quarter, Air France KLM said that they fell victim to the crisis as well, which has hit cargo and passenger traffic both.

The Group revealed a reduction of €1.2 billion in costs, half of which are to be put into effect this year, and they plan to cut from 1,000 to 1,200 workers through a hiring freeze, retirement, and voluntary departures. Around 450 managers between the ages of 60 and 65 are being encouraged to retire from the company, even though there won’t be any compulsory redundancies. An airline spokeswoman said that Air France KLM is going to continue their cost reduction program, which showed a 2,000 job cut in their workforce for 2008.

The carrier says that they recorded an operating loss of €194 million for the 3 months leading to December 31st. Even though revenue continued to be stable and long-haul traffic was resilient, they witnessed a drop in overall passenger numbers by 1.9% during the month of January, which was due greatly to the decline in bookings for short-haul services. The freight traffic for the airline also fell 20% during last month for the second month.

Air France KLM says that they will cut capacity by 2% during the summer since the outlook of the economy is only growing worse by the day. However, they have maintained their forecast of ending in the black for the fiscal year ending March.

Learn more at: www.airfranceklm-finance.com

Record High Mass Layoffs

By Steven Greenhouse

There’s more bad news on the layoff front.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that employers laid off a record 508,859 workers in the fourth quarter of 2008 in what the bureau calls extended mass layoff events — layoffs involving 50 or more workers for at least 31 days.

That is by far the highest number involved in mass layoffs since the bureau began collecting that data in 1995. The fourth-quarter number represents a 69 percent increase over the 301,592 workers involved in extended mass layoffs in the fourth quarter of 2007.

According to the bureau, employers initiated 3,140 extended mass layoff events in the fourth quarter of 2008 — also a record — compared with 1,814 in the year-earlier quarter.

Factory and construction workers were hit especially hard. Manufacturing accounted for 185,686 of the workers involved in the extended mass layoffs. That was a record and represented 35 percent of all workers involved in extended mass layoffs nationwide even though manufacturing represents less than 10 percent of all jobs in the United States.

Construction accounted for 100,922 of those involved in extended mass layoffs in the fourth quarter. Some of this is explained by the seasonal construction slowdown, but even so, the fourth quarter number was more than double the number for the year-earlier quarter.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 45 percent of employers reporting an extended layoff in the fourth quarter said they anticipated some type of recall of those workers. That was down from 56 percent in the year-earlier quarter.

The Midwest reported the highest number of workers involved in extended mass layoffs — 202,392 — followed by the West with 164,717.

California had the largest number of such layoffs of any state (103,470), followed by Illinois (55,229), Michigan (38,820) and Ohio (30,295).

Among 369 metropolitan areas surveyed, Chicago-Naperville-Joliet (a metropolitan area falling in Ill.-Ind.-Wis.), reported the highest number of workers involved in these layoffs in the fourth quarter (19,894). Next were Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., with 14,714 workers involved in mass layoffs, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif., with 12,438.

Layoff Watch: Morgan Stanley, DLA Piper and more

Layoffs continue to add up as illustrated by the Labor Department's announcement that the initial jobless benefit claims are around 623,000 for the season, bringing the total number of unemployment recipients to 6.3 million. Contributing to those figures are layoffs both in finance and law. Here are the latest rumors and reports.

The layoffs at Morgan Stanley apparently began Tuesday in the equity derivatives department, according to Dealbreaker.

Rumors continue that Goldman, Sachs & Co. may lay off 10% of its global work force.

Putnam Investments laid off 260 people Thursday, according to The Boston Globe.

County Bank's 500 employees are in limbo. The bank was recently taken over by the FDIC and its assets acquired by Westamerica, which is making no job guarantees to employees.

Meanwhile, Thursday the legal world saw a massive bloodletting as eight major firms let go 800 staffers, according to the National Law Journal. Some of the notable firms include:

• Goodwin Procter LLP laid off 38 associates and 36 staff.
• DLA Piper cut 80 associates, primarily West Coast-based. The other 28 associates were based in New York and Chicago. DLA also let go of 100 staff members nationwide.
• Holland & Knight LLP cut 70 lawyers and 173 support staff.
• Dechert LLP laid off 19 attorneys.
• Cozen O'Connor laid off 61 support staff.
• Bryan Cave LLP cut 58 attorneys and 76 staff.

Another law firm not included in NLJ's list, but reducing staff, is Merchant & Gould PC, which is cutting 33 jobs.

It's a rough time, but there are jobs out there. Barclays plc is hiring in Asia. For the latest job postings, check out TheDeal.com's Career Center. For a roundup of all of the announced layoffs to date, check out The Deal's Pink slips on Wall Street Dealwatch. - Maria Woehr

Teva to Lay Off 1,000; Croatian Staff to Get Generous Severances

Teva Pharmaceuticals is to lay off 1,000 or more employees worldwide as part of its acquisition of Barr Pharmaceuticals. Three hundred of those layoffs will be in at Teva’s IVAX plant in DOral, Fla., according to the Miami Herald.

Those workers may be wishing they were Croatian, however. At Teva’s Zagreb facility, 790 employees are to go. But check out the deal they get. Israel’s Globes Online:

The “Croatian Times” quotes Pliva chairman Matko Bolanca as saying that the employees will receive “huge severance payments”. Employees will less than 25 years seniority will receive €40,500 and employees with more than 25 years seniority will receive more than €50,000. Employees who have spent their entire working lives with the company will receive €270,000. Remaining employees will receive a pay hike.

In other words, the minimum payout in Croatia will be about $52,000! (And you thought only CEOs got paid for failing.)

The South Florida Business Journal says the Doral workers will also get “severance packages,” but there’s no detail on how generous they will be (or whether they will be paid in more-valuable euros …)

PIONEER LAYOFFs JOB CUT: PIONEER fires 10,000, EXITS FLAT TV

Pioneer Layoffs News, Pioneer Job Cut announcement

Japanese electronics company Pioneer has decided to lay off 10,000 jobs. These 10000 job cuts are in addition to the 5,900 job layoffs by Pioneer in 2008. Of the 10,000 employees to be fired, 6,000 are full time employees while 4,000 are contract workers. All the job cuts will take place in Japan as well as abroad. Pioneer employes around 36,900 workers and hence 10000 job layoffs amounts to cutting its total workforce by a massive 27%. There is no specific news as to when these job layoffs will be implemented however these job layoffs are a result of Pioneer exiting the flat tv market (read below) and the report said that Pioneer plans to exit flat TV market by 2010.

Reasons for Pioneer Job Layoffs - Exiting flat TV market

Pioneer was once among the leader in flat TV market however its flat TV unit has been a highly loss making unit since the sharp fall in demand last year. As a result Pioneer has decided to exit the flat TV business completely. Pioneer has warned that it expects to make an annual loss of 130 billion yen or $1.4 billion.

Wal-Mart to layoff nearly 800 employees Arkansas HQ; to build fewer new stores

Operational changes introduced for cost reduction at Wal-Mart Stores entail a layoff of at least 800 employees at the retailer's headquarters in Bentonville, northwestern Arkansas.

Informing the employees about the proposed job-cuts, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke wrote in a memo that the layoffs will come in the real estate, merchandising, marketing, and support divisions of the company's US division, as well as in Sam's Club retail division. The memo said that the store and club operations of the company will remain unaffected by the announced cuts.

Duke said that unprecedented times mark the beginning of the new fiscal year. He added: "While the number of associates that will be impacted by the restructuring is very small compared to the 2.2 million associates we have worldwide, I can assure you that we will treat them with care and dignity and help support them during their transition, consistent with our basic beliefs and respect for the individual."

According to Wal-Mart spokesman, David Tovar, quite a few positions are being relocated rather than being eliminated. As a part of the company's expansion plan in general, Wal-Mart intends generating new jobs in its stores and clubs divisions.

In addition to the announced layoffs, the world's biggest retailer also plans to build fewer new stores this year - 125 to 140 - in comparison to the last year's 166 new stores last year.

GE Transportation to Cut 350 Jobs, Temporarily Lay Off 1,200 at Erie unit : Reports

General Electric Co. (GE: News ) reportedly has announced plans on Tuesday to permanently cut 350 jobs and temporarily layoff 1,200 workers at its locomotive unit, due to a decrease in production volumes.

The job cuts are said to affect nearly 14%, or 11,400 employees of Erie, Pennsylvania-based GE Transportation, with the permanent layoffs set to take place in April and temporary furloughs beginning in May. The temporary cuts are noted to be "lack-of-work furloughs."

GE Transportation said it expects locomotive production volume to decrease about 40% from last year, and most of its backlog is slated for 2010 and 2011, the reports quoted the head of the division Lorenzo Simonelli as saying.

Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric had recently reported a 44% decline in fourth quarter net income to $3.72 billion and a 5% decline in revenues to to $46.21 billion.

GE Transportation, a part of the GE Technology Infrastructure unit, contributed about $5 billion of the parent's $182.5 billion in sales last year.

GE is currently trading at $11.62 on the NYSE.

Airlines see largest employment drop in five years

Full-time employment at Frontier Airlines declined 15.7 percent between December 2007 and the same month on 2008, the steepest drop of 14 large and low-cost airlines, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported Wednesday.

The overall full-time employment decrease of seven low-cost airlines over that period, including Denver-based Frontier, was 3.3 percent, the BTS said in its monthly “Passenger Airline Employment Data.”

For seven larger, “network” airlines, the decrease was 6.3 percent.

Frontier had 4,397 full-time equivalent employees at the end of 2008, putting it in the middle of the seven low-cost carriers on the BTS list. Southwest Airlines (NSYE: LUV) was tops with 35,499 workers; Virgin America had the fewest, 1,259.

BTS counted two part-time employees as a single full-time worker.

Frontier is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Virgin America had the greatest increase of employees — 71.3 percent — between December 2007 and December 2008 of the seven low-cost airlines, followed by Allegiant (14.2 percent). AirTran was the only low-cost airline besides Frontier with a loss of employees (9.1 percent).

Among seven “network” airlines, United saw the biggest employee reduction, 12.7 percent, between the two Decembers, BTS said, followed by Northwest Airlines (6.9 percent) and Delta Air Lines (6.2 percent). Northwest and Delta (NYSE: DAL) are combining operations.

Overall — among large, low-cost and smaller regional airlines — employment levels experienced their largest year-to-year decrease since December 2003, BTS said.

Employment levels dropped 6.7 percent in December 2008 compared to the same month in 2007, the sixth straight decline in full-time equivalent rates compared to the same month the previous year.

E-mail dayton@bizjournals.com. Call (937) 528-4400.

More layoffs coming to Granite City Steel

U.S. Steel Corp. plans to idle its coke operations at Granite City Works in Granite City, Ill., and lay off 390 workers.

This latest round of layoffs is in addition to the 1,600 workers who lost their jobs when U.S. Steel idled its mill in December.

The affected employees are 300 hourly workers and 90 managers, said John Armstrong, a spokesman for the Pittsburgh-based company.

The idling will occur in about three weeks, as demand for both steel and coke, which is used in the production of steel, has dropped, he said.

Granite City Works, the city's biggest employer, had more than 2,200 workers when it was fully operational.

Granite City Mayor Ed Hagnauer said he's still optimistic the idling won't turn into a permanent closure because U.S. Steel is continuing its $600 million upgrades on the mill.

"We're just crossing our fingers and saying our prayers," he said Thursday. "We're still hoping for a turnaround and we're going to wait and see if the economic stimulus will help the steel industry."

On Thursday, U.S. Steel named a new general manager of Granite City Works, but that does not have any bearing on how long the idling will last or if the mill will be closed permanently.

kvolkmann@bizjournals.com

Best Buy to lay off 250 headquarters workers

ATLANTA, Feb. 19, 2009 (Reuters) — Best Buy Co Inc said on Thursday it plans to lay off 250 workers at its corporate headquarters in Minneapolis as it cuts costs in the recession.

A Best Buy store in Westminster, Colorado June 27, 2007. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

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But the top U.S. specialty electronics retailer added it will also create 210 new posts the idled workers could take, for a net loss of 40 jobs.

The retailer said last month that involuntary layoffs would be necessary after about 500 of its slightly less than 4,000 headquarters workers accepted voluntary exit packages that provided 7.5 months severance for the average non-managerial corporate staffer.

"The voluntary program was a success as it significantly reduced the number of necessary involuntary reductions," Best Buy spokeswoman Sue Busch Nehring said in an email.

Workers who took the voluntary separation packages left the company on February 12, she said. Workers affected by the involuntary layoffs will remain employed for 30 days.

Busch Nehring said Best Buy, which has expanded mobile phone shops in recent months, was retooling its U.S. stores to deliver "a more intuitive, customer-focused shopping experience."

Store changes are designed to shift labor dollars to where customers are, she added.

The retailer's sales have come under pressure as consumers cut back during the recession. Sales at stores open at least 14 months, or same-store sales, fell 6.5 percent in December.

Best Buy shares rose 17 cents to close at $27.89 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Minntac announces nearly 600 layoffs

U.S. Steel has notified workers that it will cut production in the next two to three weeks and about 500 union and 90 salaried management employees will be indefinitely laid off.

By: Peter Passi , Duluth News Tribune

U.S. Steel Corp. has notified workers at Minntac, near Virginia, that it will cut production in the next two to three weeks. As a result about 500 union and 90 salaried management employees will be indefinitely laid off.

Minntac currently employs about 1,100 union workers and about 180 people in salaried management positions. So the layoffs will affect about 46 percent of the work force.

“Here at U.S. Steel, we continually analyze and assess our production, market conditions and how those conditions affect our order book,” said Courtney Boone, a corporate spokeswoman.

As a result of that assessment, Boone said: “We’ve made the difficult decision to temporarily idle some of our production at Minntac.”

Minntac has five lines, but just four are currently operating. In the coming weeks, the number of operating lines will be further reduced to two. Boone said the duration of the layoff will depend on market conditions.

Mike Woods, president of USW Local 1938, received word of the pending layoffs late Wednesday.

“I don’t think it came as a huge surprise to anyone, but it’s always devastating to get news of layoffs,” he said. “We haven’t been through layoffs at Minntac since the early 1990s.”

Woods explained that the most difficult part of the situation for workers is that no one knows how long or deep the current downturn in the steel industry will be.

“It may get worse before it gets better,” he said. “I personally think things will turn around eventually. But the question is when.”

Boone said U.S. Steel also is scaling back production at its Granite City Works operations in southern Illinois. There at the mill, the company expects to temporarily lay off 300 union-represented employees and 90 salaried management workers, as it ratchets down steel production.

In December, U.S. Steel halted production at Keetac, a taconite operation in Keewatin that employs about 380 people.

Two hundred twenty seven skilled trades workers get layoff notices

By Melissa Mancini

OSHAWA -- More than 200 skilled trades workers at the Oshawa car plant got layoff notices this week.

The cut is a result of two previously announced production-slowing measures.

In November GM announced the line rate in the plant would be reduced because the Buick would no longer be built in Oshawa.

In December the company announced it would cut the third shift at the car plant. The move resulted in 1,200 layoffs.

When the shift was cut GM spokeswoman Patty Faith said it was considered temporary, the result of declining U.S. auto sales. The third shift has been off since Christmas.

The skilled trades workers affected by these previous cuts are just being impacted now, Ms. Faith said.

"Skilled trades had been retained to support other plant activities related to the Flex line, etc, which is why they are just receiving their notices now, but they are part of that 1,200," Ms. Faith said in an e-mail.

State to lay off 20K workers, halt construction projects

A Times-Standard Staff Report

Posted: 02/19/2009 01:30:19 AM PST

As the contentious budget stalemate plods on in Sacramento, with recent announcements of stop-work orders and tens of thousands of layoffs, local representatives are starting to say they should shoulder some of the burden.

A plan to address the state's $42 billion budget deficit has seemingly stalled in the state Senate after days of marathon sessions left the package one vote shy of passage. Consequently, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced this week the state would begin the process of laying off 20,000 employees effective July 1 and would order work stoppages on 276 projects throughout the state in a desperate attempt to slow the state's fiscal bleeding.

With the state already having instituted mandatory work furloughs and pay cuts, local representatives state Sen. Patricia Wiggins and Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro said this week it would only be fair for legislators to consider shouldering some of the burden in a show of sacrifice and solidarity.

Asked if she would consider supporting a pay cut for legislators or their sacrificing the per diems -- the $170 they are paid by the state for every day they are in session -- for the duration of the budget stalemate, Wiggins said the Legislature has already taken a hit, but that more should be considered.

”It's only proper, and fair, that members of the Legislature consider shouldering our share of the burden -- we're making reductions in the Senate's own budget, for example, but we should consider other options as well,” Wiggins said in a statement released Wednesday.

Chesbro had a similar take.

”I think that would be absolutely fair if everyone else is taking a reduction,” Chesbro said of taking a pay cut during an interview Tuesday with Eureka's KINS Radio, adding that he would both personally look into the option and encourage his colleagues to do the same.

According to a list provided by the State Department of Finance, the governor's order will halt work on three Humboldt County projects with an estimated value of more than $40 million, meaning less work for local construction crews.

A $1.75 million project at Fortuna Elementary School has been stopped, as well as an almost $16 million project to revamp the interchange between U.S. Highway 101 and State Route 36. But, the largest local project to be shelved was $23.1 million in state funds for a North Coast Integrated Watershed Management Plan. One of Humboldt's neighbors to the south, Willits in Mendocino County, also saw the state halt work this week on $1 million in wastewater treatment plant upgrades.

But the largest worry in the state, that of mass layoffs of state employees, seems to have spared Humboldt County for the most part, at least so far.

The State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will take the largest brunt of the layoffs, according to Lynelle Jolley, a spokeswoman for the State Personnel Administration Department, adding that corrections is by far the largest general fund-dependent department in the state.

Up at Pelican Bay State Prison in Del Norte County, spokesman Lt. Ken Thomas said it's too early to say how many of the prison's 1,700 employees will be affected, but said it's unlikely the prison will escape the layoffs unscathed.

Thomas said there are 67,000 employees in the state's corrections department, and that 13,000 -- or just under 20 percent -- of them are expected to receive layoff notices. If the layoffs are applied proportionally throughout the state's prisons, that means Pelican Bay Prison could lose almost 350 employees.

”Although we've not received anything from Sacramento identifying any specific positions, to think Pelican Bay would go through a process like that without anybody being affected is unlikely,” Thomas said.

Back in Humboldt County, most agencies said it's too early to tell, but that they are looking to escape this round of layoffs unscathed.

”We have not heard anything about layoffs yet from the personnel administration -- it has not been passed down to our department,” said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant. “We are in a wait-and-see mode.”

Jolley said two departments that definitely won't be touched by layoffs are the Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Highway Patrol, both of which are considered revenue-generating agencies and are financially self-sufficient.

But Wiggins cautioned that state workers aren't the only ones facing layoffs, and that the governor's decision to shut down 276 infrastructure projects means the loss of tens of thousands of construction jobs.

”That's 65,000 good-paying construction jobs in California -- gone,” she said. “One vote could turn that around. The governor says that he will lay off 20,000 state workers if we do not have a budget. One vote could turn that around. These are Californians who are out of work as a direct result of us not having a state budget.”

Times-Standard staff writers John Driscoll, Sean Garmire, Thadeus Greenson, Donna Tam and Erin Tracy contributed to this report.p