|
Layoffs @ Work (pg. 7)
|
View this Thread in Original format
| Skipper |
| quote: | Originally posted by Abercrombie
I was just about to search for this thread, and thank you for bumping it for my convenience.
I got this email last night from our CEO;
I already volunteered for 10 unpaid days this year (10 long weekends this summer, how selfish of me) which is a 5% pay cut, and now this additional mandatory 5% cut just blows, and I have to work through it too.
Days like this I wish there was work-to-rule in the salaried private sector, not gonna happen
:mad: |
You still at the same company as before?
I saw your results the other day....certainly not what Hurd was hoping for but it was inevitable in this environment.
At a company that size I would not be complaining about a cut, there is so much middle management it's ridiculous.
I was told last week we are not laying off anyone for cost reasons, but basically doing strategic replacements so we can emerge from this with a stronger team. Not a good time to be underperforming, that's for sure. |
|
|
| Orko |
Saw this the other day, and thought 'what a logical alternative to being laid off'.
| quote: | Work-sharing agreements a 'shockingly well-hidden' alternative to layoffs
TORONTO - Ian Kersley had a young family and a mortgage in 1982 when the threat of layoffs loomed at the Algoma Steel plant in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
He says if it wasn't for a work-sharing agreement, his lack of seniority would have almost certainly led to him being handed a pink slip and leaving the Sault for good.
"In '82 we did this, and in '82 I had a year in the plant, I had two young kids and a mortgage and I went on work sharing then, and I know for sure if I'd have been laid off then I'd have been heading back from whence I came," Kersley said.
Instead, a government program that allows employees to cut their hours to avoid layoffs - while taking only a minimal pay cut - allowed Kersley to keep his job and climb the ranks of his union to become president of United Steelworkers Local 2724 today.
Under the work-sharing program, employees work four days a week while collecting employment insurance on the fifth day.
With the Canadian unemployment rate expected to rise to nearly nine per cent this year - from 7.2 per cent now - and the economy predicted to shed 350,000 jobs, work sharing is an option for those seeking to cut costs while avoiding major layoffs.
Over the years, many Canadian companies have taken advantage of the federal EI job-sharing plan, though it is has been little publicized since it was introduced more than 25 years ago during the early 1980s recession. At that time, the jobless rate hit 13 per cent after a massive streamlining in the auto, steel and industrial sectors caused by high inflation and the second global oil prices shock.
One of the latest companies to use the work-sharing program is integrated steelmaker Essar Steel, which has started the plan at the former Algoma Steel operation in northern Ontario, a region hard hit by steel layoffs over the years.
The members of Kersley's local recently agreed to a 26-week work-sharing agreement at the Essar Steel Algoma plant, where Kersley said he hopes the plan will keep young workers in the Sault just as it kept him there more than a quarter-century ago.
"Especially up in the Sault, in northern Ontario here, it's very, very hard to attract young technical professional people to the steel plant ... so when we get people here it's nice to keep them here."
Kersley's 600-member local narrowly approved the job-sharing deal, with 54 per cent voting for it and 46 per cent voting against.
He said most of the votes against came from senior union members who knew their jobs were relatively secure and didn't want to take a pay cut.
Under the deal, employees receive $89 in employment insurance on their one day off a week, which works out to a pay cut of approximately 12 per cent, Kersley said.
Frank Reid, director of the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto, said that while some workers simply can't afford to take that kind of pay cut, the benefits of work sharing are undeniable.
"If you think about the tradeoff, that you're working four days a week, getting half your pay on the fifth day from EI so that you end up with something like 90 per cent of your normal pay and you get one extra day off per week, like a long weekend every week, that's something that would sound appealing to many workers," Reid said.
More experienced workers tend to see work sharing as an affront to the hallowed principle of seniority, but Reid said the program can benefit everyone.
"To say, 'Well, we want to enforce seniority so the junior workers suffer and the senior workers keep their jobs,' when you compare that to the alternative and say, everyone can actually benefit and perhaps be better off, why would you insist on making some junior members suffer?" Reid asked.
He added that work sharing is "shockingly well-hidden," given that studies have shown productivity is higher under the program than it is after layoffs. With work sharing, workers don't have to be retrained to do new jobs, and it eliminates the toxic work environment that can result from workforce reductions.
Although layoffs can save costs in ways work sharing can't - under most work-sharing agreements, employees still receive full benefits, for example - Reid said the increased productivity associated with work sharing, as well as the savings when the company decides to ramp up production again and doesn't have to hire and train new employees, actually tends to save businesses money in the long run.
In its most recent budget, the federal government extended the length of time employers can use work-sharing agreements by 14 weeks to a maximum of one year.
Members of another United Steelworkers local in Sault Ste. Marie recently voted down a work-sharing proposal. Local 9548, representing 470 workers at the Tenaris Algoma Tubes plant, unofficially voted two-to-one against the idea just prior to a two-week shutdown at the operation earlier this month.
The company said late last week it will indefinitely lay off 130 of the plant's workers.
Other companies have unofficially instituted work-sharing programs.
In January, Rogers Publishing, which owns some of Canada's most popular magazines, including Maclean's and Chatelaine, gave its employees the option of working four days a week instead of five for a 20 per cent pay cut.
In the United States, several states have work-sharing programs and major companies like Japanese carmaker Toyota have used the programs to keep skilled workers and cut costs in a tough business environment. |
Gov of Canada website:
http://www1.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/epb/sid/cia/grants/ws/desc_ws.shtml |
|
|
| Abercrombie |
| quote: | Originally posted by Skipper
You still at the same company as before?
I saw your results the other day....certainly not what Hurd was hoping for but it was inevitable in this environment.
At a company that size I would not be complaining about a cut, there is so much middle management it's ridiculous.
I was told last week we are not laying off anyone for cost reasons, but basically doing strategic replacements so we can emerge from this with a stronger team. Not a good time to be underperforming, that's for sure. |
Yup, still here Skippy... 13 :D when you include my Compaq years.
What's ty, is the execs are hadly losing as much as they say they are. 20-15% is nothing, because it's off their base salaray, and they get most of their income from the bonuses. It's BS ain't it?
..and Thanks Bobby! saving that one, and looking into it. |
|
|
| Intangible |
So our company laid off 350 people today - which is much better than industry average - but some of the layoffs hit really close to home.
Wage/salary freeze for 2009 *sigh* I was due for a raise too :(
Some of the company leaders 'volunteered' to take up to a 15% cut in order to 'save the company'
Other industry leaders have cut about 5% of their employees.. we apparently sit at less than 1%... so all is 'good' for now... although I predict more coming in another couple months. |
|
|
| Kamka |
| quote: | Originally posted by urban_legend
No complaints here.
We are hiring 3,000 in the next year :toothless |
Out of curiosity, what company/organization is that and what field/area of business do they deal with? Are you looking for office workers? I have some colleagues that were/will be laid off and I thought that if this was something suitable for them, I'd pass it on (if you don't mind). Send me a PM if you can... |
|
|
| jchung52 |
| good time to work at my place... most guys here making over 150-200 a day. cept we stopped hiring for now. |
|
|
| LightsOut |
| quote: | Originally posted by jchung52
good time to work at my place... most guys here making over 150-200 a day. cept we stopped hiring for now. |
collections? |
|
|
| jchung52 |
| nope...postage meters |
|
|
| Sasha |
| quote: | Originally posted by LightsOut
collections? |
hii ;) |
|
|
| monishb |
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
the rest:
Globe and Mail Update
January 28, 2009 at 2:53 PM EST
Five Canadian companies are included on this year's list of the 100 most sustainable large companies in the world.
Toronto-Dominion Bank, EnCana Corp., Telus Corp., TransCanada Corp., and Royal Bank of Canada were considered to be among the elite corporations worldwide that are both environmentally friendly and likely to survive in a tough financial environment.
Encana ?!?!? :stongue: |
I work for telus mobility and i havent seen "0" layoffs however they did lower our corp portion of our bonus pay to a multiplier of .57 + most of are unionized under the TWU(Telecommunications workers union) |
|
|
| Skipper |
| quote: | Originally posted by monishb
I work for telus mobility and i havent seen "0" layoffs however they did lower our corp portion of our bonus pay to a multiplier of .57 + most of are unionized under the TWU(Telecommunications workers union) |
That is because you keep hosing customers like me with the world's tiest phone service.
I swear sometimes telus just turns the whole network off to save money. |
|
|
| VDub |
LOL...
Everybody's worried and im surrounded here by refugee porkchops who don't speak a word of English making 30 bucks an hour... |
|
|
|
|
