News Is Out – Circuit City Is DOA

It was just reported on CNBC that a proposed buy-out by the Golden Gate Group, that would salvage Circuit City as a going concern, fell through. The handful of liquidation companies that were standing by are coordinating their efforts that will result in about 35,000 being laid off. So far there is no announcement from the company, but I doubt that any useful information would be in it anyway. Good luck to a very large group of people that have stuck by while Circuit City tried to make the best of a bad situation.

Does Low Wages Equal Strong Management
Circuit City Is Now Hiring – Cheap

The Insult Is Complete At LandAmerica

In August of 2007 I wrote an article, LandAmerica Leaves Much To Be Admired, little did I know that my LandAmerica article would have such a lasting quality. There may be only 11 comments but the consistency tells a condemning story of a company whose management can guide the ship during calm seas but are clueless as soon as the seas get rough.

It looks as if the final insult to the good people at LandAmerica will come from the $150 million in synergies Fidelity National will achieve(from their Press Release) by this merger. To me it doesn’t look like a merger, it looks as if Fidelity is buying their accounts & agents and will be laying off the majority of LandAmerica’s staff that still remains after a year of endless layoffs.

As much as I dislike giving attorneys money, it would seem prudent for the LandAmerica employees to secure legal consul to ensure that they receive any and all compensation promised. At this point of the merger any legal action would have to be dealt with expeditiously. If anyone has retained consul, please post their consuls contact information on the comment section below so others may join as a group.

Good Luck and Best Wishes to all of LandAmerica’s staff.

E-Verify Must Be Renewed

E-mail your congressmen, find it here, now and tell them that you will never vote for them again if they do not authorize the E-Verify Bill for another five years. Not the temporary six month extension they are trying to slip through Congress that will effectively put the issue off till after the election.

E-Verify works and is one of the few programs our government does that actually protects American Jobs. Please act now. Numbers can change things, make yours count.

Who Says Inflation Is Under Control

Consumer late payments at 16 year high. Could higher prices at the grocery check-out and at the fuel pump be putting the squeeze on our wallets?

Unemployment claims at there highest level in two years.

ATA Airlines shuts down stranding thousands and laying off 2,000. The cost of fuel was listed as one of the primary causes. Last week Aloha Airlines also shut-down operations.

Corn sets new record price of $6 per bushel. At least our all-knowing government officials tell us that inflation is under control.

Gasoline at new national record. Even with oil backing off there peaks, the cost of refined gasoline is starting its summer rise. Every spring refiners increase their crack spread (the mark-up on gasoline) to reflect the increase in demand. This process has just started.

Motorola disconnecting 2,600 more. Last year they had lay offs of 3,500 in January and 4,000 in May. During a cutting stretch in 2000 and 2001 their payroll shrank by more than 47,000 jobs.

Google planning to cut 25% in the Double-Click work force, in the U.S. that is.

Dell needs to find $3 billion more in cuts than the 8,800 they announced last year. From my article last July.

Merrill Lynch to lay off 4,000 to 7,000.

Schering-Plough will be cutting $1.5 billion a year in expenses, no estimate on how many jobs will be lost. Schering-Plough shares are down about 50 percent this year so heads have to roll.

Are you ready to pay for the poor Home Builders losses? Time to E-mail your congressmen.

NASA estimates as many as 7,300 will loose their jobs as the shuttle program ends in the next 2 ½ years.

La-Z-Boy is shipping jobs to Mexico, all of their cut and sew divisions will be relocated with no lay off estimates given.

Hamiliton Sundstrand will be completing its move to Singapore by lying off the last 65.

United Way officials in Dayton said record numbers of families are seeking emergency food assistance because of lay offs caused by the strike at Detroit-based American Axle & Manufacturing. My article: American Axle Moving More Jobs Out Of The U.S.

CBS Moves Ahead With Layoffs in News

1,500 Possible Layoffs at Freightliner Cleveland Plant. My previous article: Freightliner The Long Haul From North Carolina To Mexico

From the CoStar web site that monitors the Fed’s watch list:

The Federal Reserve Banks moved up the planned closing of several of its check processing facilities, most of the cuts will come from permanent result work reductions.

Newsweek announced that 111 staffers on its news and business sides in New York City accepted a buyout last week.

Chromcraft Revington Inc. is progressively shifting manufacturing of products from its Delphi, IN, plant at 1100 N. Washington St. to suppliers primarily in Asia. Manufacturing activities at the Delphi facility will conclude on May 30. The reduction in force is expected to impact approximately 150 Associates at the Delphi location. Within the past 18 months, the company has closed and sold its plants in Sumter, SC, and Warrenton, NC, as well as its warehouse and distribution center in Knoxville, TN. The company also relocated its upholstery operations into its existing facilities in Lincolnton, NC, and sold its upholstery plant.

EMI Christian Music Group confirms layoffs of between 1,500 to 2,000 staffers by this June.

Long-expected layoffs begin at W.Va. steel mill, from a peak of 13,000 to 1,000 after these latest cuts. Steel mills have been devastated throughout the northeast by Asian steel and like most of the problems facing America; all the politicians do is use this issue as political fodder.

Earlier this week, Wheeling-Pitt's parent, Esmark Inc., announced it would shut down a mill in Allenport, Pa., and idle parts of the operation in Martins Ferry, Ohio. Those cuts could cost as many as 360 jobs.

Analysts see 200,000 banking industry layoffs in the next 18 months.

Whirlpool, a great old Mexican brand. 350 Cleveland jobs go to Mexico. Behr Climate Systems plans layoffs, plant closure. From the Germany based Behr Groups web site: “Today we are active in all major markets in Asia and take advantage of the opportunities they offer.”

First Magnus Another Casualty Of The Mortgage Meltdown

Is First Magnus Financial Corporation (FMFC), who is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona back in business? Last week their web-site posted a notice that they where discontinuing their mortgage operation. Today their site has been changed remaking the company into an online mortgage broker.

How many where laid off? From a Cathy Luebke article in The Business Journal of Phoenix FMFC has released 5,000 employees immediately. That info came from an E-mail sent to staff on Thursday. From the E-mail:

"Despite our efforts to continue normal operations, we have come to a point when we must substantially reduce our work force," the Austin email states. "What this means for most of our employees is that Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007, will be your last day of employment. Detailed information regarding payroll, benefits and other human resource related matters will be available as soon as possible."

Besides their wholesale operation, the list of retail offices is sizable.

From an AP article dated Friday FMFC has laid off 99% of their staff or 6,000 people. If it is 5,000 or 6,000 there are a lot of people put out of work with less than a day’s notice.

From the ESRI web-site:

“Starting out as a small retail mortgage bank in 1996 with only a handful of employees, FMFC has grown into the largest privately held mortgage bank in the United States and ranks in the top 20 of the largest mortgage bankers overall.”

Amgen Taking The Downsizing Diet Pill

This announcement comes of the heals of AstraZeneca laying off 10%.

Other CEO’s should be embarrassed by the class that Mr. Sharer has shown in the way he has handled the job cuts at Amgen.

From an article by Luke Timmerman and Angela Zimm on Bloomberg.com Amgen will be “downsizing” 12 to 14 percent:

“Amgen Inc., the world's largest biotechnology company, will slash jobs for the first time in its 27-year history, close plants and cut capital spending in response to declining sales of its top-selling drug, Aranesp.”

Posted in the RumorMill section of Biofind.com was an August 15 memorandum from Kevin Sharer, Chairman of the Board, CEO and President:

“Downsizing is the most difficult thing a company can do. We do not take lightly the need to do this. We have added 13,000 people to Amgen since 2001 and returning to 2006 levels will not be easy.”

At least Mr. Sharer sounded sincere and has given these cuts the importance they deserve, instead of hiding or spinning the devastating effect that the lost jobs have on real people. He also addresses severance issues in his memo:

“Tomorrow, we will announce the details of a voluntary transition program for eligible staff members in the United States. Certain staff members who reach 55 points through a combination of age and service (with a minimum of 5 years service) can apply for a package that is designed to help them transition into an early retirement or to pursue other interests. Approximately 2,300 people meet these eligibility criteria. This program can help those staff make that transition, and it will also reduce the number of staff who will be affected in the overall reduction in headcount. We will also continue our hiring freeze and tightly manage attrition and backfilling of open positions. We expect to complete the restructuring process with a targeted reduction in force.”

The August 15, Press Release: Amgen Restructures Due to Lower Aranesp(R) Revenues While Continuing to Invest in Innovation and Future Growth

To link to the August 16, Video to employees: CEO speaks to staff

Click here for a list of U.S. locations.

Posted as a reply to the memo:

“First to go are the people that were hired from Lilly and Merck during the last five years, start with RF. The downsized bretheren are waiting for them at the gates with iron fists and bats.. A__holes pissed a lot of money down the drains with their zany ideas..”

Sun Micro's Jonathan Schwartz The Genius?

Now that the "no brainer" part has been done; cutting 15% of their workforce and selling off their real estate, can Schwartz deliver.

Sun MicroSystems announced another "restructuring" that will save the company about $150 million a year. Since the company is deliberately vague about giving details on how many or where the cuts will occur, the street estimates that 2,000 jobs will be lost.

From a Barbara Grady article on insideBayArea.com:

"Sun already eliminated 3,700 jobs since Schwartz took over in April 2006. It closed its Newark and Sunnyvale campuses."

"Since there last round of cuts primarily hit the U.S., we can assume that these cuts are also targeting U.S. facilities.

"But in cutting these jobs and real estate costs and boosting sales of its server computers, it tripled its profit margin to 8 percent by its most recent quarter and consequently returned to making money."

From the Boston Business Journal:

"In June, the Boston Business Journal reported that Nordblom Co. acquired Sun Microsystems' Burlington campus for $212 million and planned a remake of 800,000-square-foot property."

"Sun Microsystems said it planned to downsize its presence at the 158-acre campus, which was built in 1998. As part of the sale of the property, Sun Microsystems will remain a tenant but will lease 100,000 square feet less or about 450,000 square feet."

Mortgage Industry Producing Lots of Unemployed

I’ve written quite a bit about the nations biggest and best banks sending tens of thousands of jobs overseas; Citigroup 26,500, Washington Mutual 10,000, New Century 6,500 and American Home Mortgage 6,250. But there are hundreds smaller companies involved in the mortgage industry that are closing or belling up to the bankruptcy bar.

Some of the following names haves no numbers attached, Mortgage Lenders Network USA laid off 80% of their staff or 1,440 in January.

So the following is a lists of the ones that I have been able to come across. From The Truth About Mortgage.com:

Aegis Funding – closed
Accredited – rumors of a closure
Acoustic Home Loans – closed
Ameriquest – laid off 3,800, closed 229 retail branches after $325 million settlement
Argent – for sale
Axix Mortgage – closed
Bank of America – continued layoffs, mulling Countrywide merge
Broad Street Mortgage – sold to Wausau Mortgage Corp.
Citigroup – bought ABN AMRO Mortgage Group
Clear Choice Financial – in default, Bankruptcy possible
Concorde Acceptance – rumored to be closed
Countrywide – layoffs, may be bought out by Bank of America
DeepGreen Financial - closed
Decision One – closed six regional centers
E-loan – closed sub-prime wholesale division
ECC Capital/Encore Credit – sold to Bear Stearns
Equibanc - closed
Fieldstone Mortgage – closed Las Vegas branch
Fremont General – exited secondary sub-prime market
FundingAmerica - not accepting any new business
HMIC – closed
Indymac – bought retail arm of New York Mortgage Trust
Lender’s Direct Capital Corporation – closed wholesale lending operations
Loancity – closed 7 branches
Loans 123 – no longer taking anymore business
Mandalay Mortgage – closed
MGIC – bought rival mortgage insurance provider Radian Group
Millenium Bankshares – closed mortgage division
Mortgage Lenders Network – stopped residential loan production
New Century – stock plummeted after announcing huge losses and buybacks
Novastar – facing potentially huge lawsuit
Oak Street Mortgage – closed
Option One – for sale
Own It Mortgage – closed
Popular Financial Holdings - exited the wholesale sub-prime mortgage market
ResMae – for sale
Right Away Mortgage – closed
RFC – layoffs
Rose Mortgage Corp. – closed
Saxon – layoffs
Sebring Mortgage – closed
Secured Funding – closed
Silver State Financial Services – closed
Sovereign Bancorp – exited wholesale market
Summit Mortgage - closed
Wachovia – layoffs
Washington Mutual – exited correspondent market

These lay offs are just in Orange County, CA and was posted by djGT in the forums at DI.FM:
(Updated July 26, 2007. Citigroup and new Impac Mortgage layoffs added.)
Acoustic Home Loans, Orange. Closed in April 2006. Laid off 203 people.
ACC Capital Holdings, Orange. Laid off an estimated 3,000 of the 6,000 employees at its Ameriquest Mortgage Co., Argent Mortgage Co.and AMC Mortgage Serviceson March 15. Reported 1,072 layoffs in Orange County as of June 22 to the EDD. Last year, the companies laid off more than 4,000 people.
BNC Mortgage LLC, Irvine. Reported 94 layoffs to the EDD, effective Aug. 12.
Citigroup Inc., Brea. Reported 77 layoffs to the EDD effective June. 29.
Countrywide Home Loans, Anaheim. Reported 59 layoffs in January to the EDD.
ECC Capital, Irvine. Sold its mortgage operation to Bear Stearns in February but said it would keep its 350 local workers. The company laid off about 600 people nationwide last year.
Express Capital Lending, Newport Beach. Reported 36 layoffs March 30 to the EDD.
Dana Capital Group, Irvine. The lender reportedly closed the first week of May. Layoffs unknown.
Ditech.com, Costa Mesa. Reported 181 layoffs effective July 3 to the EDD.
First NLC Financial Services LLC, Orange. Reported 113 layoffs in March to the EDD.
First Street Financial, Irvine. Ceased operations June 15. Layoffs unknown.
Fremont Investment & Loan, Brea. The company announced March 2 that it was exiting the subprime business after federal regulators issued a proposed cease and desist order. Reported 62 initial layoffs in Anaheim March 5 to the EDD. Additional reported layoffs in Anaheim and Brea brings total to 470 as of Aug. 6.
H&R Block Mortgage Corp., Irvine. Announced 50 layoffs May 17. The company reported additional layoffs effective July 10 bringing the total to 183.
Home Loan Center Inc./Lending Tree Loans, Irvine. Reported 271 layoffs effective July 10 to the EDD.
Homeview Lending Inc., Lake Forest. Reported 21 layoffs March 16 to the EDD.
Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Irvine. Announced May 9 that it laid off about 100 people out of about 800 in its workforce nationwide. On July 25, the company said it would lay off an additional 190 workers nationwide, including 43 in Orange County.
IndyMac Bancorp., Irvine. Announced 400 layoffs nationwide July 19 including 20 in Irvine.
Master Financial Inc., Orange. Stopped lending March 14. Reported 50 Orange County layoffs to the EDD.
New Century Financial Corp., Irvine. Filed for bankruptcy April 2. An initial 2,000 workers were laid off nationwide, including nearly 500 in Orange County. The company reported to EDD that as of May 4, it had laid off a total of 1,051 people in its Irvine and Santa Ana offices.
Novastar Mortgage Inc., Lake Forest. Reported 56 layoffs March 16 to the EDD.
Opteum Financial Services, Foothill Ranch. Reported 130 layoffs as of June 23 to the EDD.
Option One, Irvine. Parent company H&R Block said in November that it would sell Option One and close 12 branches, none in Orange County. On May 16, it announced 615 layoffs nationwide, including 133 in Orange County.
People’s Choice Home Loan, Irvine. Filed bankruptcy March 20. Reported 242 layoffs effective May 22 to the EDD.
Quick Loan Funding, Costa Mesa. Owner Daniel Sadek told the Orange County Register in May that the company payroll had shrunk from 700 at its height to about 125 now.
ResMae Mortgage Corp., Brea. Filed bankruptcy Feb. 12, saying it would keep 800 out of 1,037 jobs. Reported 185 layoffs effective May 19 to the EDD.
WMC-GEMB Mortgage Corp., Costa Mesa. Reported 29 layoffs effective May 7 to the EDD.

American Axle Moving More Jobs Out Of The U.S.

From a Buffalo News Business article by Fred O. Williams: “American Axle & Manufacturing confirmed plans to idle the company’s 734-job Buffalo plant — formerly the city’s largest source of factory jobs…”

What was interesting was the openness that Chief Executive Richard Dauch discussed the offshoring of U.S. jobs: “Seventy-five percent of new business backlog is sourced to non-U.S. facilities,”

From the article:

“The new orders will go to plants in Guanajuato, Mexico; Changshu, China; Araucaria, Brazil; and Olawa, Poland, he said. The business may also lead to construction of other non-U.S. plants.”

“The company said that costs at U.S. plants remain high, despite a buyout that erased 1,500 production jobs nationally”

‘“If you keep doing that, in America we’re going to be working for poverty wages,” said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of some form of retribution.’

‘“Our profits are coming from overseas,” Chief Financial Officer Michael Simonte said during the conference call.’

J & J – Little Info On Where Their 4,800 Lay Offs Occur

In a July 31st Press Release, Johnson & Johnson stated: “These actions we are taking to improve our cost structure will enable us to continue investing for future growth and profitability.”

The Press Release also states that most of the “savings” will happen in their pharmaceutical section. From their List of Companies the company seems to have their largest presence in Delaware and New Jersey.

They also plan to streamline human resources, finance and information technology.

Please forward any specifics to me.

Amkor Tech Packaging Up The Few U.S. Jobs Left

Amkor Technology is the world’s second largest contract chip packager. With 22,000 employees that work in 15 factories around the world, they are now releasing 150 out of 270 workers in their last U.S. factory. Located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

From an Amanda Jones Hoyle article in the Triangle Business Journal:

“The remaining 120 Triangle employees, mostly engineering staff, will focus on research and development. The RTP facility is Amkor's only remaining manufacturing plant in the United States.”

“The company acquired RTP-based Unitive and its Taiwan-based sister company, Unitive Semiconductor Taiwan Corp., in 2004. Its operations in Morrisville and on Cornwallis Road in RTP are what remain of Unitive, a company that was honored as the "North Carolina electronics company of the year" in 2003 by what is now called the North Carolina Chamber.”

AstraZeneca Gives 1-In-10 The Unemployment Pill

AstraZeneca announced that they will be laying off 4,600 after 3,000 layoffs where announced in February. The company’s website lists over 66,000 employees with 27% in the Americas? The company will have 69,000 after their purchase of Medimmune Inc. These layoffs represent more than one-out-of-ten.

They list 10 U.S. locations with the largest employment concentrations in Wilmington, DE, Westborough, MA and Newark, NJ. It will be interesting to find out what the percentage of U.S. layoffs will be.

Earlier this year Times 100 best companies to work lists AstraZeneca as 71st on the list. An interesting statistic from the Times list is that they hired 174 people last year after receiving almost 110,000 applications.

Medimmune Inc. website about lists 3,000 employees is headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD., manufacturing in Fredericksburg, MD. and Immune facilities in Philadelphia and Bensalem, Pa., and Santa Clara, Ca. Their about page also lists a facility in Kentucky with no further identification.

Support John Kerry’s FORWARN Act.

Imagine that, I actually agree with Sen. John Kerry.

STEVE EDER and JAMES DREW staff writers for the toledoblade.com reports that Senators Kerry and Stabenow support Senator Sherrod Brown’s reform of the WARN Act.

I have often stated that employers are finding numerous ways around the reporting requirements of the WARN Act. I only hope that the final reform passes with solutions that closes the Bill’s loopholes.

I am usually against additional regulations on American employers, but if employers had to provide comprehensive reporting on layoffs and restructuring, we might see a little less of the under-the-table shuffling of staff to hide layoffs and offshoring activities.

Companies Hiding Offshoring

Instead of shifting whole divisions overseas, U.S. companies are replacing their American workers in smaller groups. By not filling openings caused through normal attrition and transferring positions, as to allow the disbandment of the divisions destined to be offshored, companies do not have to file with or provide benefits that would be required by U.S, Department of Labor Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

This also allows companies to stay off the medias radar screen and avoid negative press.

From a Mike Sunnucks article in the The Business Journal of Phoenix:

“U.S. employers are treading carefully these days when it comes to the outsourcing and offshoring of American jobs to India and other foreign markets.”

“Plenty of U.S. businesses are investing in India, either adding or moving jobs to call centers and technology hubs to that south Asia market. But in order to avoid criticism here at home, those companies emphasize that job shifts to India are about building a presence in the world's second-most populous country and leveraging resources in a competitive global marketplace.”

“Instead of shipping 500 U.S. jobs to Bangladore or Chennai all at once and enduring media criticism as well as displaced or anxious American workers, U.S. companies are offshoring in smaller, less obvious steps.”

“That includes looking to see whether positions can be shipped abroad when turnover occurs, and taking such steps with a smaller number of positions or work groups.“