I'm kind of stunned

jillyz12

jillyz12

Active member
The huge international company I've worked for for 23 years announced yesterday...in an email to the employees...that in an effort to cut costs, 1000 jobs would be eliminated worldwide. In addition to that, any employee 57 years of age or older, with 7 or more years of service, was going to be offered voluntary retirement. Yep, I fit into that category.

It's a long story, too long to tell here, but the bottom line is that if you qualify for the early retirement but don't take it, there's no guarantee you'll have a job at the end of February. :shock: Has anything like this ever happened to anyone here? This company makes MILLIONS every year....they're definitely not hurting. I'll have a pension plus my 401K, and will be able to buy health insurance through them for a lot less than if I tried to get it on my own. I just can't believe the way it was handled. And the real kicker is, 2 hours after WE found out (and not even the supervisors were given a heads-up), the story appeared on the website of the local newspaper. Thanks for listening, everybody. I'm just a little bit shocky.
 
Is the head of this international company seated in Finland?
There's been quite a few cases of this, cutting costs in order to make more profit, closing down perfectly good manufacturing plants in favour of cheaper production in Asia.

What you describe here is more or less a forced retirement, but I'd say, if you don't suffer any substantial economic loss, go for it!
They simply don't deserve your service any longer, and you may be free to do what you want for the future.
 
Hi Jillyz12,

It is quite sad to hear that. Personally, I felt it should be handled in a more sensitive manner...

Here, in Singapore, they just passed a law stating that, any employee that has reached retirement age, the company are obliged, by law, to offer re-employment at status quo. I think that that is a good move as mature senior employees have much to contribute, not only in experience but skills as well.

I have heard of massive layoffs for employees here, in Singapore, sometime back, but these employees were given a severance package, not only that- the employees were referred alternative employments, either in the same industry or elsewhere, depending on their skills and expertise.

I hope this work out well for you, Maam...
 
Dam I feel like even the drug trade has better ethics then American corperations.
Feel sorry for you Jilly its a real kick in the guts in exchange for years of work. You would think that they would at least come and talk to your face.
 
jillyz12 said:
The huge international company I've worked for for 23 years announced yesterday...in an email to the employees...that in an effort to cut costs, 1000 jobs would be eliminated worldwide. In addition to that, any employee 57 years of age or older, with 7 or more years of service, was going to be offered voluntary retirement. Yep, I fit into that category.

It's a long story, too long to tell here, but the bottom line is that if you qualify for the early retirement but don't take it, there's no guarantee you'll have a job at the end of February. :shock: Has anything like this ever happened to anyone here? This company makes MILLIONS every year....they're definitely not hurting. I'll have a pension plus my 401K, and will be able to buy health insurance through them for a lot less than if I tried to get it on my own. I just can't believe the way it was handled. And the real kicker is, 2 hours after WE found out (and not even the supervisors were given a heads-up), the story appeared on the website of the local newspaper. Thanks for listening, everybody. I'm just a little bit shocky.
Click to expand...

I worked for the Ford Motor Company at the Dagenham plant in UK. The management were always spreading rumours about redundancy (UK term for layoffs). In all the years I worked there I never felt secure, so when they offered voluntary redundancy I took it.
 
Welcome to the world of big business....

People are being reduced to consumables and it all started with modern American business practices being adopted.

One of the most visible signs of this was when Personnel Officers became Human Resources Managers, humans were reduced to being resources, commodities to be bought and sold at the absolute lowest price, just like a ton of rubble or a ream of paper. All consideration for their necessities of life were thrown out the window. Everyone was to be kept in fear of losing their job. This is the reason that you'll never see full employment again, as the whole idea runs on having a large pool of unemployed labour, so that no one can feel that they are of any value. These are the same people who complain that their employees no longer have any company loyalty.

None of them have stopped to think that the people they are keeping poor are their own potential customers. The money must be kept moving to generate a vibrant business environment, a bottle neck such as they have created will eventually return to sink their own ship. In the mean time they will have made a fortune and sold their business, they won't care. It's a short term greed that will eventually kill our country's economies

Ain't it grand?....
 
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Have just read that the Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems announced it will cut 2,335 employees around the world, most of them at a Danish manufacturing plant, and said that 1,600 jobs at its Colorado factories could be eliminated “later this year” if a federal production tax credit isn’t extended beyond the end of 2012.
 
headwards said:
Dam I feel like even the drug trade has better ethics then American corperations.
Feel sorry for you Jilly its a real kick in the guts in exchange for years of work. You would think that they would at least come and talk to your face.
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Never met one but it seems a drug dealer would be nicer to do business with than a human resources manager.
 
Sorry that it was dealt with in such an insensitive manner, Jilly. I would take the redundancy and the early retirement, seems like the best bet. I can well understand your reaction to being told this.
 
Layoffs for reasons other than reduced demand, are common in the American business world. Tens of thousands of former American jobs have been sent overseas, for no other reason than the hourly wages are lower there. I don't mean to be insensitive (cause I feel sorry for the person who has to face this situation), but .. t!t-for-tat bubba .. t!t-for-tat.

To top it off, the American government has NOT addressed the job drain in a way that would hold American based companies accountable for their actions. For that reason alone, America's economy is in the toilet to the low point it is.
 
Chief Bones said:
Layoffs for reasons other than reduced demand, are common in the American business world. Tens of thousands of former American jobs have been sent overseas, for no other reason than the hourly wages are lower there. I don't mean to be insensitive (cause I feel sorry for the person who has to face this situation), but .. t!t-for-tat bubba .. t!t-for-tat.

To top it off, the American government has NOT addressed the job drain in a way that would hold American based companies accountable for their actions. For that reason alone, America's economy is in the toilet to the low point it is.
Click to expand...

That comment weighs on my mind every day,

Even as a youngster in our society...I am already running out of nails to bite....
 
jillyz12 said:
The huge international company I've worked for for 23 years announced yesterday...in an email to the employees...that in an effort to cut costs, 1000 jobs would be eliminated worldwide. In addition to that, any employee 57 years of age or older, with 7 or more years of service, was going to be offered voluntary retirement. Yep, I fit into that category.

It's a long story, too long to tell here, but the bottom line is that if you qualify for the early retirement but don't take it, there's no guarantee you'll have a job at the end of February. :shock: Has anything like this ever happened to anyone here? This company makes MILLIONS every year....they're definitely not hurting. I'll have a pension plus my 401K, and will be able to buy health insurance through them for a lot less than if I tried to get it on my own. I just can't believe the way it was handled. And the real kicker is, 2 hours after WE found out (and not even the supervisors were given a heads-up), the story appeared on the website of the local newspaper. Thanks for listening, everybody. I'm just a little bit shocky.
Click to expand...

Jilly

First of all I was in your situation about 5 years ago (except I DIDN'T get the early retirement and was simply let go with a small severance which they were required to pay me).

I am not shocked, this sort of thing is common. And the fact your company is doing well means nothing. The American work force is costly, and if a company can move its operations elsewhere because its cheaper, it will do so. This is because the investors want to increase the dividans on their investment. Its about money and they don't give a toss about employee loyalty, about "made in America" or how badly they are going to f**k you if they eliminate/transfer your job.

And I don't mean to bring politics into this, but it relates. There is a popular candidate running for President who made millions exactly this way. Making himself rich specifically by f**king ordinary people out of their jobs. I wont say anymore than this is not a political thread...

Back to Jilly

Its a tough call but I'd say STUDY THE OFFER FIRST and if its reasonable take the retirement. Remember, they can most fire you anyway WITHOUT CAUSE and you'll be left with nothing. The only reason they haven't is because they don't want the bad PR in the press.

The fact this appeared in your newspaper 2 hours later means this move was well calculated. Unfortunately thats the trouble in the USA, workers have practically no rights and the Government doesn't punish companies that pull these stunts. So corporations can get away with it.

Its a shitty deal, but one path seems like the lesser of two evils.
 
headwards said:
Dam I feel like even the drug trade has better ethics then American corperations.
Feel sorry for you Jilly its a real kick in the guts in exchange for years of work. You would think that they would at least come and talk to your face.
Click to expand...

New Zealand companies are no different, I have worked for companies that have announced record profits and got rid of staff all in the same announcement, Fonterra are masters of it.
 
in a lot of case's you show for worked and the building is closed. or they call you and say don't come in
 
It is all bought about by greed, and the greediest are those big multinational companies who are capturing the world in a largely unnoticed economic battle of staggering proportions.

Perhaps it all sounds far fetched, but this is a race to the death to seize the world by it's economic throat. If it were a military battle it would be on the front page of every paper, but it is a largely unseen conflict and the only time it comes to our attention is when something happens to us or someone we know personally.

Many of us are willing to just look the other way, using the excuse of cheap commodities to justify what is happening, no one stops to think of the human toll and what it is doing to the standard of living of the man in the street (us). Up until 20 years or so ago our standard of living was slowly but surely getting better, with the gap between the very rich and the very poor being gradually closed, everybody was moving ahead, since that time this gap has been slowly whittled away and the big end of town are only too willing to demonise this trend by appealing to the greed in us all stating that we wage earners are paying for this, labeling it as Socialist or Communist ideology.

They don't want a world where everybody gets a fair lick of the lolly, they want all the lollies, of which they will then dole out a bare minimum to keep alive their money making operations. But it will all come to a sticky end as those who are disadvantaged by this "battle royal" lose the ability to purchase the products these companies produce. In effect we will have bought about another Great Depression.

Next time you see these "idiots" protesting at the G8 conferences, stop just for a minute to think why they are doing it.

And No!,... I don't agree with the riots and stupidity, but that is exactly how desperate some people are getting. There is always talk of "agitators" in the crowds, and the more I see the more I believe that there may well be some truth in it as a means of blackening the cause of the protesters. It has all happened before,... just look at the cases in the 1920s when Big Business got the government to do their strike breaking for them. Police swinging batons and armed troops in the streets to counter men who only wanted the chance to earn a decent living wage.
 
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BritinAfrica said:
I worked for the Ford Motor Company at the Dagenham plant in UK. The management were always spreading rumours about redundancy (UK term for layoffs). In all the years I worked there I never felt secure, so when they offered voluntary redundancy I took it.
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Brit - I had uncles and cousins who worked long time at Ford in Dagenham, a lot of overspill from East London moved lock stock and barrel into that area from 1950s onwards. It was my habit through the 1970s drive straight to the Ford garage there from the west country and simply drive into the showroom with a year-old Estate purchased there and exchange it for a new one. That was fine until one year they only had one new estate in the showroom so I had to accept that; but it was automatic and I had never come across one before. It was some experience, driving staight out of the showroom onto the main road at a very busy time with my shiny new car.
No-one warned me to sit on one leg initially; but they were correct in telling me that I would find it somewhat confusing until I head -butted the windscreen just once. :)

Back on topic - didn't the workforce at Dagenham always have very strong union support there ruling the roost; I understood from ex-workers that the unions allocated work and controlled day to day operations absolutely ?
 
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Del Boy said:
Back on topic - didn't the workforce at Dagenham always have very strong union support there ruling the roost; I understood from ex-workers that the unions allocated work and controlled day to day operations absolutely ?
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Yes we did, and that was also part of the problem, they would call for a strike at the drop of the hat. One driver phoned the office and said he was still in Liverpool, when he was in fact parked outside his house in Dagenham (so he could claim more overnight money). The problem was a foreman had seen his truck, so when the driver came back to the yard and claimed more overnight money they jumped on him. He had in fact committed two offences which could have got him jail time:-

(1) Falsified his HGV log book.
(2) Committed fraud by claiming over night money.

Yet despite this they only suspended him for three days. Guess what, the union called us out on strike for three days. I lost 3 days pay because some prat had tried to fiddle the system.

I told the union rep "Don't go out on strike, work to rule." That way if done correctly not a single truck would leave the yard, shutting down operations in the plant. But no, they walked out the gate.

The company got their own back by spreading rumours of redundancies making people unsure as to their future, or sacking someone over trumped up offences. They paid well, but in the end the uncertainty wasn't worth it.
 
Brit -

Ah - the work to rule. Brings back happy memories of my Dad. He was a lifetime Railwayman from 15 years of age. This was a favourite phrase of his and you are the only other person I have heard use it. He was a strong union man. He always complained that in disputes they should be working to rule and not striking. He insisted that no large employer could withstand the work to rule for any length of time - simply because it could not be done;if employees worked to the rule-book the necessary output could not be sustained.

I spent a lot of my life argueing politics with him, but as with life in general, I should have listened to him!:read:
 
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