Jul 4, 2007

Citigroup Mixed Signals & None Good

Last April 1 wrote about Citigroup in Do You Work For Citigroup? This was just prior to their announcement of 17,000 and any details were weak at best. As some of the actual layoff decisions have been filtering out, other aspects have surfaced.

From the comments section of The New York Sun Cris Ericson theorizes on the Citigroup situation:

”Didn't some news source write that some Arab Prince shareholder decided that thousands of U.S. jobs should be cut at Citigroup to save shareholders like him money; and what is the relationship between this alleged Arab control of Citigroup now and September 11, 2001, if any?”

“Vice President Cheney's former company allegedly received billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars for no-bid contracts in Iraq and now has recently decided to move to Arab Dubai; are the Arab decision makers the same people as the Arab decision makers allegedly forcing thousands of layoffs of U.S. workers at Citigroup?”


From SchaeffersResearch.com Ian Stansel writes:

“As scheduled, Prince took the microphone at eight o'clock this morning to provide the details of the plan. The bulk of the money-saving will come from the cutting of 17,000 jobs. A majority of these jobs will be "back-office" positions, i.e. not traders, banker, or other employees who directly bring in money. In addition to these 17,000 jobs, another 9,500 positions will be outsourced to locations where the company can pay employees less. Through the job cuts, C aims to reduce expenses by $2.1 billion.”

According to
Neil Adler in the Baltimore Business Journal only 270 layoffs will impact the D.C., Maryland and Virginia areas. The #1LoansUSA.com web site reports:

“In Michigan, 200 workers at ABN AMRO Mortgage Group's former headquarters near Ann Arbor will be laid off as the headquarters is converted into a wholesale mortgage operations center, from the Ann Arbor News. The News also reported that Citigroup plans to close two offices in the Detroit area, eliminating another 570 jobs by the end of the year.”

“In Jacksonville, Fla., 550 employees at a customer servicing and call center were told their office will be closed by the end of the year, the Times-Union reported.”


Another side of Citigroup, from The Citigroup Watch on the Inner City Press:

‘Well today I had to deal w/Citi regarding my Pension. I left the organization in May 2003 after spending 14 years there. Remember, prior to working for Citi, I spent 5 yrs w/The Associates Financial Services. (Yes, what an idiot in professional compromise!) Prior to leaving in 5/03, I exercised what options that I could, and confirmed my pension status. I was informed at that time - verbally and in writing - that my tenure at The Associates was grandfathered into my tenure at Citi. I was given statistics regarding my pension income based on my monthly payments at 55 yrs of age (5/2015), and at 65 years of age. Imagine how relieved I was to find that my 190% commitment to this God Awful organization at least left me with a pension plan worth $932 per month if I retired at 55, or $1660 per month if I retired at 65.”

"Well, last year at this time I ordered the same bit of information in order to share it w/a financial person much more savvy at this business than I. I never got around to sharing that information w/him and in the meanwhile I had the info. So today requested said info again. Guess What? Now Citigroup tells me that I was not fully vested at The Associates nor at Citi, and my pension value is now $204 per month at 55, and $463 at 65!”

0 comments: