Business Lay Offs for 2010

ZF Lemforder in Brewer is in the final stages of moving production down south and to Mexico. Lemforder started operations at the Brewer facility in 1980 and employed over 400 people.

Westbrook call center shuts down, 100 jobs lost
A call center in Westbrook closed its doors overnight, leaving its employees stunned and upset.
Listen Up, LLC, gave no warning to its employees when it shut down.
WCSH

If it was actually done this way with no warning, then this was a pretty cold hearted way of closing the doors and laying people off and not giving the employees any notice.

Knowing what I've heard about "Listen Up," I am not surprised at the poor handling of the closure.

Listen Up, LLC had annoying commercials advertising job openings. I don't know when the ended, you don't miss advts that go off the air.

They are resurrected from a previous call center business.

Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com

Jobless recovery...... doesn't that little piece of political double speak say it all? Savvy business people are looking at the Maine finacial crisis and know that it is time to get out if they can.Whether anyone likes it or not businesses exist to make money .Contrary to the lefts opinion that they are just in it for the exercise.

Just a guess here, but if companies were assured they would not be faced with a rash of workers comp claims then they would likely give employees plenty of notice.

Regarding the call center situation - Channel 6 reported that a call center in Auburn had 70 openings and another in the Portland area had 30 or so openings and encouraged the laid off Westbrook employees to apply - so there is some hope for those folks.

The CMP and New Gloucester lay offs ( there were additional lay offs at the New Gloucester site) were hhigher paid non union folks that will have a more difficult time finding a job.

The smart companies are leaving before we get to where Europe is. That is, you are not able to dismiss employees unless you stop doing business and then they must be paid severence.

Call center jobs are not going to help the Maine economy.

Listen Up could have handled the closing much more humanely. What a rotten thing, to let employees arrive for work, only to read a notice on the closed, locked doors. Cold, impersonal and heartless. Completely unnecessary. A phone call to all employees wouldn't have cost a whole lot, since that's what the company did, supposedly so well. Presumably the owner knows how to dial a phone without being paid for it.

The news reports last night showed unsuspecting employees showing up for their shifts, only to read the notices on the doors and have emotional meltdowns. The reports also interviewed the owner, Anthony Ricciardi, and he essentially said "Gee, we thought this would be the best way to handle it."

For whom?

What a bunch of cowards, especially at this time of year.

Is there really such a thing as a good time of the year?

Key Obama economic adviser Larry Summers coined a telling way to look at the current American economic state of play. He said the U.S. is experiencing a “statistical recovery and a human recession.”

Speaking on a panel at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Summers said one in five American men aged 25 to 54 are unemployed. He said given a “reasonable recovery,” that rate could improve to one in seven or one in eight. That still contrasts with a 95% employment rate for that group in the mid-1960s

Source

A statistical recovery and a human recession? Huh?

Reducing unemployment to 12-15% from 20% in the 25-54 age group is reasonable? Sure, if you want a second revolution.

I doubt this is the direct reason as CMP is still (bare minimum) a year or three from a full scale working AMI implementation.

Naples company puts brakes on business
A Maine trucking company closed its doors, blaming a poor economy, after more than 25 years of business.
The owner of Sebago Pacific Trucking informed his drivers Saturday that the business was closing immediately.
WCSH

This re-news the statement of advanced warning before going out of business so that people can be working on a resume' for the next job.

The advanced warning is a tough call, not sure I would want any disgruntled employees around and still working or taking their frustration out on the Company. The one time I was involved in layoffs it was immediate, clean out your tools and leave. But then again most employees knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when.

Interesting. Sebago Pacific appeared to to most of the hauling for Hancock Lumber, at least on the sawmill side, moving lumber between mills as well as down the highway to wholesale accounts.

I understand the reasoning behind a swift closure. However, there's a difference between swift, and completely heartless. There's no excuse for the way "Listen Up" handled theirs. Phone calls to affected employees don't cost much.

Interesting legal hypothetical - unsuspecting employee arrives for work, only to read a "Closed Permanently" sign on door, and suffers heart attack or stroke right there. Or, worse - has one while driving home, causing road accident and severe injury or death to themselves and others.

Lawsuit against company? Should the company have had a reasonable expectation that their failure to notify employees could contribute to someone's injury or death, and thus, leave them liable?

Company liable, I sure hope not otherwise why hire anybody if job stress caused his/her heart attack. I hope these people who get immediately laid off get a severance package

After being laid off for almost a year, workers at the New-Page paper mill in Rumford are being called back for rehire.
Paperworker union president Matt Bean says that about 100 workers will be back on the job by Friday.
WGME

Well, a small glimmer of hope of re-starting a paper machine at the paper mill. This is a good thing for the local economy and how long before we see Baldacci take credit for this.

How ironic a thread about 2010 Lay Offs would be started by someone who spent post after post on another thread having a NIMBY orgasm about a Maine company (Poland Spring) seeking to expand their operation in areas he feels should be off limits. i.e. - his part of the State.

"Call center jobs are not going to help the Maine economy"...yeah compared to unemployment and welfare for those out of work......get a clue, Maine needs jobs and we can't afford to say no to anyoen who would rpesent an opportunity....if we continue to scratch our behinds waiting for the perfect hi tech jobs the dreamers think are out there, then we may as well just give the democrats lifetime appointments to the state house and move to Florida!

Something is better than nothing - at least with these people working they will be collecting less in food stamps than before if they had no job.

2/4/10
Movie Gallery closing Bangor sites, four other stores across Maine

By Eric Russell
BDN Staff

BANGOR, Maine — Movie Gallery Inc., a major DVD rental franchise in Maine, will close six locations statewide, including both Bangor stores, as part of a larger plan to shut down more than 800 locations across the country.
...snip

Aside from the Bangor stores... Movie Gallery locations will close in Lincoln, Millinocket, Farmington and Waterville... Stores typically employ between 10 and 20 workers depending on location.

Source

Stores typically employ between 10 and 20 workers depending on location.

I would like these stories to include a little more information on the "lost jobs". What is the total number of hours worked weekly by these employees?

"20 workers" sounds like a lot, but if the twenty workers each worked only 4 hours a week, is that a different impact than twenty full time jobs lost?

I'm just wondering how some closings compare to others.

Excellent point, Bob. These stories would be far more accurate if they disclosed not number of people alone but also FTE (Full Time Equivalent). And, in retailing, it might not be as dire because many of the off-hour part time staff are taking it as a second job and they're not necessarily joining the ranks of the unemployed when they get laid off from that second job. That is not to diminish the hardship on them when their extra income disappears but it does skew the statistics.

BTW, this thread is called "Business Layoffs." Don't see any thread on "Government Layoffs" or "Non-proft layoffs." :)

This second job could be keeping them from collecting food stamps or Mainecare or some other type of state or federal aid ... or maybe ... they were making just a little too much to qualify for the programs and needed that second job to keep their heads above water and now they are back to the sinking ship phase again. Only the people affected really know what the story is for them is.

I had a friend who managed a Movie Gallery location and she had 5 full time employees and 9 part time employees not including herself as she was salaried.

I don't mean to suggest a part time job isn't important. I was looking more for a way to compare the net losses from one closed business to the next.

Bangor's Telford Group Inc. is expected to lay off roughly half of its 65 employees less than six months after its acquisition by a Milwaukee company.

Source