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Friday, March 4, 2011

Walker Sends Early Layoff Notices -- Which Can Be 'Avoided' If Dems Come Back

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issued notices to state unions Friday of possible layoffs beginning early next month after none of the 14 fugitive state Senate Democrats returned from Illinois to give the Republican majority the quorum it needed to vote on a spending bill.

Once the unions are notified, the layoffs could take effect in 30 days. State departments will have a couple weeks to develop layoff plans.

The unions were notified the layoffs could begin in early April, said Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie, adding that the notices may be withdrawn if the Senate Democrats return to Wisconsin.

"Without Senate action within 15 days, individual employees may begin to receive potential termination notifications," Werwie said in a written statement.

The layoff notices, obtained by Fox News, do not specify how many employees would be affected. But Walker has said his administration would have to start preparing layoff notices for as many as 1,500 state employees so the state can start to realize the $30 million savings he had assumed would come from the concessions.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Planned Layoffs Hit Highest Level in 11 Months

Wednesday, 02 Mar 2011 09:45 AM

The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose in February to its highest level in 11 months as government and non-profit employers let workers go, a report showed Wednesday.

Employers announced 50,702 planned job cuts last month, the highest level since March 2010 and a jump of 32 percent from January's 38,519, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Layoffs were 20 percent higher than the 42,090 announced in February of last year, marking the first year-over-year increase since May 2009.

Even so, the report said the pace of job cutting remains relatively subdued. Job cuts for January and February stand at 89,211, well below the 113,572 job cuts that were announced in the first two months of 2010.

"It is too soon to say whether the increases in January and now February represent a trend," John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.

Challenger said worries over rising gas prices could impact staffing decisions over the next six months.

"At the very least, rising energy costs could force employers to postpone hiring plans. At worse, increased costs could kill the fragile recovery and spur another round of layoffs," Challenger said.

The government and non-profit sector led layoffs with 16,380 job cuts, up 154 percent from January. Retail followed with a 44 percent increase in planned cuts to 8,360.

The data comes ahead of Friday's key non-farm payrolls report from the government, which is expected to show the economy added 185,000 jobs in February after only a small gain in January.