Latest December Job Cuts/Layoffs: Caterpillar Inc.,Textron Inc....

    Is it just me, or do these companies always seem to fire or layoff their employees at around the Christmas holiday?

Caterpillar Inc: cutting white-collar pay by up to 50 percent and offering buyouts to as many as 25,000 U.S. employees.

Textron Inc: largest maker of corporate jets, said it will eliminate 2,200 jobs worldwide and has said that further reductions were likely. Textron employs around 44,000 workers.

Other companies planning to cut jobs  before the Christmas holiday include Steelcase Inc, Kemet Corp , and  Roper Industries Inc.               Source

   Oh, this does get worse folks, unfortunately.

   The moves announced Monday come just days after FedEx Corp said it was forcing salaried workers to take at least a 5 percent pay cut and was suspending its 401(k) retirement plan match.

According to the employment consulting firm Watson Wyatt, 11 percent of all the companies it recently surveyed either already had cut wages or planned to do so over the next 12 months, and 10 percent either have reduced their employer 401(k) match or planned to do so.

Technorati Tags: Employment,Layoffs,Economic News,Job Cuts,Caterpillar,Textron,Pay Cuts

Santa Emulates Certain Southern GOP Politicians

      A little humor in these un-humorous times.

     Cross-posted from Blogging For Michigan

I don't know where this originated, but my friend in South Carolina e-mailed this to me.

From the Desk of Santa

An important letter from Santa Claus to all children:

In preparing your letter to Santa, you must submit a 100-page turnaround plan documenting how you expect to be good.

If approved by the Grinch from Alabama, you will receive half your presents at Christmas and the batteries to run them in March.

Note that all end-of-year allowances must be forfeited, and current parents must be dumped, even though previous parents may be responsible for your bad behavior.

An appointed czar, who once read a blog on child-rearing, will make your life decisions for you.

Bicycles are not allowed; more expensive hybrid tricycles will be substituted, whether you fit one, or not.

If you do not comply with your plan to be good, you and all the people you know will have their homes foreclosed, and you will be replaced by a child from Asia, who gets to keep your toys and send your allowance back to his or her home country.

Kids from Wall Street are exempt from all of the above.

Merry Christmas,
~Santa

Technorati Tags: Santa Claus,Auto Workers,Wall Street,Home Owners,Bailouts,Big 3 Automakers