Yang Steps Down At Yahoo
People have been calling for Jerry Yang to step down for months. Back when Microsoft made their initial offer to devour Yahoo, some wondered why he didn’t step down then.
Jerry Yang, the chief executive of Yahoo Inc, will step down from his role as soon as the board finds a replacement for the Internet company, Yahoo said on Monday.
Yahoo co-founder Yang, who took on the CEO role in June 2007 in an effort to turn the company around, will return to his former role as Chief Yahoo once a successor has been found.
Now he chooses to step down? How long do you think it will take before Microsoft gobbles up Yahoo now?
Sphere: Related ContentMacy’s Cutting So They Can Hire
I love these companies that make “dual announcements“. They crack me up.
US retailer Macy’s said Wednesday it was cutting 2,300 jobs as it vies to overhaul its operations and cut costs amid a slowing economy.
Cincinnati, Ohio-based Macy’s, one of America’s best-known retailers, said the job cuts would mainly affect staff at three regional offices across the country.
“Employees laid off in this process will be provided severance benefits and outplacement assistance,” Macy’s said in a statement.
The retailer also announced it would be creating 250 new positions as part of its shake-up.
So, 2,300 people will be “let go” because the company needs to cut costs because of the slowing economy.
Yet, 250 different people will get new jobs… At Macy’s. Far be it from the powers that be to just announce 2,050 job cuts and call it a day.
Hey, if they cut that many people, who’s going to man the store when we are all out spending our “stimulus” packages?
Sphere: Related ContentFailed To Register? Lose Your Job 18 years Later.
Get a load of this story.
When he turned 18, Michael B. Elgin Jr. was a homeless father of a toddler, trying to get himself through high school while living with friends, relatives and, sometimes, in his car. Elgin did not know at the time, his lawyer says, but by failing to register for selective military service within 30 days of his 18th birthday, he broke the law.
Last year, Elgin’s employer of 18 years, the Internal Revenue Service, fired him, citing a ban on federal employment of men who have not registered, despite his exemplary record and appeals from his supervisors and co-workers. Last week, Elgin, 42, of Stoughton, challenged his dismissal in federal court in Boston on the grounds that it discriminated against him because he is a man. Women are not allowed to register.
This guy was hired by the IRS when he was 24. Just a year or so away from the upper limit of having to register in the Selective Service System. The IRS doesn’t do background checks of their applicants?
Sure, he violated the law by not registering, but they hired him 6 years into that violation. Now, it’s 18 years since they hired him, 16 since he was no longer required to register and they fire him now?
It sounds to me like someone at the IRS had it in for him, because there is no logical reason to fire someone so many years later… Except the fact that the Selective Service System guidelines clearly state,
Once you reach age 26, it’s too late to register. Even though you may not be prosecuted, you will be denied student financial assistance, Federal job training, and most Federal employment unless you can provide convincing evidence to the agency providing the benefit you are seeking, that your failure to register was not knowing and willful.
Did you catch that part? “Most federal employment”. Now all Mr. Elgin has to do was prove his failure to register was not knowingly or willful, which is impossible because everybody back then (I am his age) knew you had to register.
Jobless Claims At Three Month Low
So… Today is an up day yes? The number of jobless claims have dropped by the largest amount in three months.
The number of laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week by the largest amount in three months.
The Labor Department reported that applications for jobless benefits dipped by 15,000 last week to a total of 338,000. The decline was the largest since the level of claims had dipped by 22,000 in the first week of September.
Of course, someone else will release something by the end of the day that negates this good news.
UAW Convinced Ford To Keep Plants
It’s amazing what the UAW can accomplish through “negotiations”.
Ford Motor Co (F.N) agreed to keep three U.S. plants open and delay closing another two as part of a tentative four-year contract with the United Auto Workers unanimously endorsed by union officials on Monday.
The endorsement sets the stage for a ratification vote by some 58,000 UAW-represented Ford workers expected to conclude by next Monday without the kind of deep-seated division that marked debate over the union’s earlier deal with Chrysler LLC.
Under the tentative deal, Ford pulled back from a plan to close six U.S. facilities that it had not yet identified, sparing three U.S. assembly plants from closure.
I guess the UAW got a little skittish after Chysler announced they were cutting jobs and scrapping models right after their contract was ratified. I wonder if Ford will just close different plants, or cut jobs at them, like Chrysler? It wouldn’t surprise me.
Fifty Straight Months Of Job Growth
Just two days ago, analysts were remarking about how bad our economy is (once again), because of the market tanking over 300 points.
But now, things are looking bright again because the economy added double the number of jobs that those same analysts had predicted.
Employers added twice as many new jobs to their ranks than expected in October, an encouraging sign that the nation’s employment climate is not cracking under the stress of a deepening housing slump.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the nation’s payrolls grew by a net 166,000, the most in five months. The unemployment rate didn’t budge at 4.7 percent, a figure considered low by historical standards.
Job gains were logged at schools, hospitals, bars and restaurants, hotels and motels, temporary-help firms, legal services, accounting and bookkeeping companies, the government and other places.
We’ve had 50 straight months of uninterrupted job growth, which sure doesn’t sound like a “bad economy” to me. Then again, no one has sneezed today.
More Fuel Mileage = Less Jobs. Huh?
The big bad president of the UAW insists that tough new fuel standards pending in Congress will force U.S. automakers overseas.
Tough new fuel-economy standards now pending in Congress could lead to the dismantling of what remains of the US domestic car industry, the president of the United Auto Workers union warned Thursday.
“We’re being told that we must choose between protecting our environment versus protecting our jobs,” said UAW president Ron Gettelfinger as he thrust himself into the center of a contentious debate over fuel economy.
…
“The US companies will no longer have an incentive to balance their full-size car production here with US production of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles,” he told the Economic Club of Detroit.
“The inevitable result is that small-car production will be shifted overseas and tens of thousands of workers will lose their jobs.”
In addition, the bill would also force manufacturers to curb the production of large trucks and sport utility vehicles in order to meet tougher corporate average fuel economy standards.
That’s the problem with these “labor bosses”, they never think outside the union hall. Why not look at things a bit more realistically and admit that making smaller cars doesn’t require as many people or some other stupid statistic?
Wouldn’t it be more prudent to work with automakers as they attempt to make their “full-size cars” and “large trucks” more fuel efficient?
I still don’t agree with his logic as to why it will force automakers overseas.
Will The Economy Slump In 2008?
Small to medium sized businesses are always the first to show signs that the economy might not be as strong as we think. I found out the hard way a couple years ago. It looks like this coming year might not be as bright either.
More than half of U.S. mid-sized companies are not planning to hire over the next 12 months or may lay people off, and fewer than a third of the firms expect strong economic growth, a survey said on Monday.
The news adds to evidence the U.S. economy may not grow as robustly next year as it did last quarter, when gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 3.4 percent.
Not all companies are gloomy about employment — 47 percent expect to hire, according to the survey from CIT and the Economist Intelligence Unit. But 44 percent of mid-sized companies see their workforce size staying the same, and 9 percent forecast a decline.
Of course, you can look at this more positively. 47% say they expect to hire. 44% say they expect to stay the same. That’s 91% that are not forecasting a decline. Yes, as a matter of fact, I have always looked for the silver lining.
GM To Cut More Jobs
The question is, how many jobs do you have to cut before you can turn a profit?
General Motors Corp. will cut more jobs in 2007 as it closes plants and tries to wrench concessions from its major union in a crucial round of contract negotiations, Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said.
Wagoner, speaking to a group of reporters on Thursday, also said GM would not concede its ranking as the world’s No. 1 automaker to Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T) this year without a “fight for every sale.”
GM, which lost $10.6 billion in 2005, cut more than 34,000 jobs last year and unveiled plans to close 12 plants and reduce recurring costs by $9 billion. Wagoner said more limited job cuts were possible in 2007.
…
GM’s stock rose more than 50 percent in 2006, but some analysts have said further gains hinge on the company’s ability to sustain profitability against increasingly successful competitors in a weak U.S. auto market.
Although GM still sells twice as many cars in the U.S. market as Toyota, it will likely be overtaken by the Japanese automaker for the global top spot in terms of production in 2007, according to analysts.
It’s sad when companies hav to cut jobs to save money. Far be it from fellow autoworkers to take a pay cut to ensure everyone keeps their job. That’s just a stupid idea, isn’t it?
Sphere: Related ContentWal-Mart Moves To Unpredictable Shifts
In a move that will effect nearly every Wal-Mart employee…
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - news) will start moving many of its 1.3 million workers from predictable shifts to a system based on how many customers are in stores at a given time, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Wal-Mart will start making the changes this year with the help of a new computerized scheduling system, the paper said.
The move promises more productivity and consumer satisfaction, but could demand more flexibility and availability from workers in place of reliable shifts and predictable pay checks, the Journal reported.
Can you imagine what this will do? Instead of living “predictable paycheck to reliable paycheck”, people will be living “unpredictable paycheck to maybe paycheck”
Cross-posted at Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff
Sphere: Related Content