Who's losing their job?

[boomerang]

Lots of layoffs announced after the election. Obamacare is driving them. Surely someone here is, or is going to be a casualty. Just curious what their thoughts might be.

Mourning in America - Here's Those Layoffs We Voted For Last Night

Welch Allyn
Dana Holding Corp.
Stryker
Boston Scientific
Medtronic
Darden Restaurants
JANCOA Janitorial Services
Kroger

Some smaller layoffs below.

Smith & Nephew - 770 layoffs
Abbott Labs - 700 layoffs
Covidien - 595 layoffs
Kinetic Concepts - 427 layoffs
St. Jude Medical - 300 layoffs
Hill Rom - 200 layoffs


The reduction of hours at Kroger is worrisome for me. I have a number of their employees as members. They don't get paid well to start with and a reduction of hours will certainly mean defaults. I have a strict policy that defaults go to collections so this is not going to be good any way you look at it.

Sacrifices have to me made I guess.

 

[heymrdj]

Really, what pisses me off here, is that by no means are the companies thoroughly constrained into these kinds of cuts. It's just that the companies would need to accept smaller profit margins and explain to investors that they will make less money for the good of society as a whole. But they don't want to see that, they don't want to work with society, they just care about the profits (I'm looking at you greedy ass investors). Personally, I don't understand it. I gladly shop at places that give benefits and encourage full time employment, even if it is spending a little more (that and I thoroughly despise Walmart shopping trips). I also don't care about my investments as long as I'm making something over banks (2-3% return is more than good enough for me). Alas, society as a whole has forgotten to care for society.

 

[SheHateMe]

I love the first few comments on this article.

Mark is right, lets just call a Spade a Spade.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Obamacare is a paradigm shift for businesses and our economy. I imagine that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that it may take a while to assimilate this change.

Meanwhile...Wall Street was down several hundred points Wednesday and Thursday...flat today.

 

[SheHateMe]

Obamacare is a paradigm shift for businesses and our economy. I imagine that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that it may take a while to assimilate this change.

Meanwhile...Wall Street was down several hundred points Wednesday and Thursday...flat today.

It is very true that people don't like change. I'm interested to see how things work in the long run. If in 4 years, America hasn't sunk into the ocean like everyone says..I think we'll be fine.

 

[lotus503]

Watch them still pass on costs to customers, obamacare is an excuse.

 

[boomerang]

I love the first few comments on this article.

Mark is right, lets just call a Spade a Spade.

The comments really have nothing to do with the situation. We all know you're obsessed with race. The comments made by idiots have no bearing on layoffs because of Obamacare.

But maybe you're making a point related to the topic that I am overlooking. I'd welcome an explanation.

 

[IronWing]

As long as we maintain the employer-based private health insurance model, it is going to cost jobs. Whether or not Obamacare ever existed, the model itself causes job losses. American companies, particularly in labor intensive industries, are at an economic disadvantage relative to companies operating in countries with socialized health insurance schemes.

 

[Saint Nick]

Companies in my lady's line of work (real estate) are laying off a lot of workers soon. Mostly those in construction.

 

[IronWing]

Companies in my lady's line of work (real estate) are laying off a lot of workers soon. Mostly those in construction.

Construction layoffs in November? You don't say?

 

[pauldun170]

I started looking into some of the examples in that story and based on some of the info I've seen...
They were laying folks off no matter what.
My guess is that it makes for tidier investor relations to blame restructuring on compliance issues than it is to blame management of the company or competitive markets.

Also lessens the risk of litigation when you give employees a nice big scapegoat like "The big bad black man stole yo job!!" vs "We let you go because we have secretly made the decision you are not critical to the company's success."

I need to get back in the office. Its always fun to hear the BS excuses executives give to justify decisions like this.

 

[pauldun170]

Construction layoffs in November? You don't say?

 

[SheHateMe]

The comments really have nothing to do with the situation. We all know you're obsessed with race. The comments made by idiots have no bearing on layoffs because of Obamacare.

But maybe you're making a point related to the topic that I am overlooking. I'd welcome an explanation.

Umm, I'm obsessed with race? I just looked down at the comments to see peoples' thoughts on the article and that was the first set of comments I saw. I actually read ALL the comments. I just found it interesting that the first 4 comments on the page would have something to do with race.

But of course, It's ME who has the issue with race.

 

[Arkaign]

Layoffs happen year in, year out, by the dozens, by the hundreds, by the thousands. It's a pretty large burden of proof to say that they are for a specific reason external to the company. I remember massive layoffs from EDS locally back during the Bush years. Surely that was Bush's fault!

 

[child of wonder]

Lots of layoffs announced after the election. Obamacare is driving them. Surely someone here is, or is going to be a casualty. Just curious what their thoughts might be.

Welch Allyn, a company that manufactures medical diagnostic equipment in central New York, announced in September....

In June, Dana employed 25,500 in 47 countries. By September, they'd shed 1,000 jobs, some of them from planned actions like their divestiture of their Fredericktown, Ohio, facility; the planned closures of their Longview, Texas, and Toledo, Ohio, facilities; and the consolidation of their Rochester Hills, Mich., and Milwaukee, Wisc., plants into other facilities.

But last Friday they laid off seven white collar staff...

Stryker said last November that it would eliminate 5% of its global workforce...

The company would not say how many jobs will be lost in Massachusetts, where fewer than 2,000 of its 25,000 employees are based. In February 2010, Boston Scientific said it would pare 1,300 jobs worldwide, but similarly did not say where.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) is halfway through a 2012 restructuring plan in which the company expects to let go of 1,000 employees from divisions around the world.

The initial 500 positions were cut before the end of July, with another 500 to go before the end of 4th quarter of 2013, according to the company's latest financial report.

I could read into the other layoffs and about how they were not announced right after the election, too. My cost to read for you is $300/hour with a 1 hour minimum.

 

[nickbits]

Grocery store margins are razor thin so Kroger layoffs are not too surprising.

 

[Thegonagle]

My employer already offers health insurance.

So I guess I'll be OK.

 

[dawp]

It's short sighted. Once things settle down and business picks up all these companies will have lost valuable employees who will move on to other jobs and they will have lost experience that they will not get back easily.

I have been through several lay-offs and the companies never recover. all have gone out of business.

 

[boomerang]

Umm, I'm obsessed with race? I just looked down at the comments to see peoples' thoughts on the article and that was the first set of comments I saw. I actually read ALL the comments. I just found it interesting that the first 4 comments on the page would have something to do with race.

But of course, It's ME who has the issue with race.

A multitude of posts that you make regarding it proves my point. Maybe it's your evil twin?

 

[boomerang]

I could read into the other layoffs and about how they were not announced right after the election, too. My cost to read for you is $300/hour with a 1 hour minimum.

Oh yes, please. Do you accept PayPal?

It never ceases to amaze me how the left picks at the most innocuous things in an attempt to make a point. But smuglies will be smuglies.

 

[zinfamous]

Interesting post, OP.

Your argument is very similar to this interesting data set that has always been a favorite of mine:

 

[dbk]

Layoffs aren't extraordinary. The article doesn't reference the election as the motivator for the layoffs. It seems that a majority of them were announced prior to the election. I don't see the correlation.

 

[Moonbeam]

Meanwhile...Wall Street was down several hundred points Wednesday and Thursday...flat today.

The Nate Silver effect. Oh yeah, buying into delusions can be expensive.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Watch them still pass on costs to customers, obamacare is an excuse.

No to worry companies are already passing the costs on to workers. My premiums have gone up 35% in the past year (Last November for this year and this month for next year).

 

[umbrella39]

The OP has dove head into the KoolAid trough...

How woefully predictable these kinds of threads are.