Publicly Announced Layoffs for April 1999

Publicly Announced Layoffs for April 1999
April 2, 1999
Peritus CEO resigns; 40 jobs to be cut
NEW YORK - The president of Peritus Software Services is stepping down, the business software maker announced Friday.
The company, based in Billerica, Mass, is also laying off 40 people, mainly in sales and marketing, and taking a $250,000 charge against earnings.
April 7, 1999
Boeing lays off 280 St. Louis workers as F-15 Eagle production slows
ST. LOUIS — Boeing Co. is laying off 280 workers on its fighter aircraft line and says as many as 620 more employees could lose their jobs by fall.
The layoffs stem largely from a slowdown in orders for its F-15 Eagles, Boeing said.
The union workers who received pink slips include sheet-metal workers, material handlers, and machinists. They will work until Friday.
Boeing said Tuesday that as many as 320 more production workers and 300 non-union employees could lose their jobs within six months.
The projections, which the company called a "worst-case scenario,'' could mean that Boeing will have trimmed its St. Louis work force by 15 percent -- from 22,800 employees to 19,600 -- in less than two years.
April 8, 1999
Planned job Cuts in March Up 200% From '98

The number of planned job cuts by U.S. businesses in March tripled from a year earlier, employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said. Businesses announced plans to cut 68,984 jobs last month, up 200% from March 1998 and 11% higher than February. "Job cuts, averaging 75,000 over the last six months, are now in the realm of the figures we saw during the last recession," said John Challenger, chief executive of the employment firm. "While voracious consumer spending has helped maintain overall economic strength, companies are still hampered by stiff pricing competition from abroad. The inability to raise prices has cut into corporate profits which, in turn, has most certainly contributed to increased job-cutting," Challenger said. Among the industries showing the largest increases in planned job cuts and dismissals in March were financial firms and aerospace defense contractors, Challenger said. Although large U.S. companies are trimming payrolls—associated with both cost-cutting and merger activity- hiring by small and medium-size firms is on the rise. The Challenger report collates job-cut announcements; it does not track actual layoffs. Many companies modify their layoff plans after they are announced.
April 11, 1999
CompUSA to Cut Jobs at Internet Unit

CompUSA Inc., the nation's largest, computer retailer, said it will cut 200 jobs at its Net.com unit to cut costs. The cuts, all at the unit's Marlborough, Mass., location, will result in a charge of $5 million to $8 million against CompUSA's fourth-quarter results. The company also said it is recruiting executives for the unit and expects the realignment to take about three months. CompUSA has said weaker-than-expected sales will lead lo losses in its fiscal third and fourth quarters. Analysts most recently predicted losses of 5 cents a share in the third quarter and 13 cents a share in the fourth quarter, according to First Call Corp.
April 11, 1999
Iomega Corp., maker of the Zip storage drive for personal computers, said it will cut an undisclosed number of jobs and consolidate some plants as it further trims costs after losing money for most of last year. The company also reported a slight first-quarter profit of $569,000, or break-even on a per-share basis, compared with a loss of $18,6 million, or 7 cents, a year ago.
April 15, 1999
AlliedSignal to Cut Jobs, Shed Its Car-Care Division

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J.- AlliedSignal Inc. said Wednesday that it will eliminate an undetermined number of salaried positions in a cost-cutting reorganization of its aerospace business.
AlliedSignal, the top seller of flight safety systems, said much of the savings will be achieved by consolidating the acrospace unit's ordering, production and delivery into a single system.
The company named Robert Johnson chief executive and president of the realigned AlliedSignal Aerospace. Johnson, who joined the company in 1994, most recently was president of the unit's marketing, sales and service division.
AlliedSignal also plans to sell its car-care division, whose products include Fram filters and Autolite spark plugs, and its friction-materials business, which includes Bendix brake pads, Chairman Lawrence Bossidy said.
Those businesses haven't performed as well as other divisions, such as aircraft flight safety systems and diesel engine turbochargers, the company said.
AlliedSignal expects to save $30 million to $50 million a year through the aerospace unit cuts and will take unspecified charges in the second half of 1999, spokesman John Clendening said.
Analysts have estimated Morris Township, N.J.-based AlliedSignal would cut as many as 1,000 of the unit's 37,000 employees, though Clendening said the company hasn't decided how many it will eliminate. No hourly jobs will be cut, he said.
AlliedSignal shares rose 25 cents to close at $53.31 on the New York Stock Exchange.
April 15, 1999
Mattel to Cut 3,000 Jobs, Form Internet Unit
Los Angeles - Mattel Inc., the world's largest toymaker, will shut plants and fire more than 3,000 workers, or a tenth of its workforce, to cut costs, and spend $50 million to create an Internet unit that it may take public.
The maker of Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels cars and Fisher- Price toys also said it had a first-quarter loss of $17.9 million, in line with estimates, on a 1.9 percent drop in sales. It's the fifth quarter Mattel's results were hurt by reduced orders from retailers or rising expenses.
Apr, 20, 99
CompUSA Cuts 200 Jobs In Internet Restructuring
CompUSA has said it will cost $5 million to $8 million, and 200 jobs, to reconfigure its online sales unit as an Internet-only operation.
President and CEO James Halpin said in a prepared statement he expects the realignment of CompUSA Net.com to take three months and negatively impact results for the fourth quarter by $5 million to $8 million. The Internet unit was formed from the company's CompUSA Direct division last month.
In addition, CompUSA will eliminate 200 jobs from its CompUSA Direct mail-order location in Marlborough, Mass. CompUSA acquired reseller PCs Compleat in Marlborough in 1996 and renamed the unit CompUSA Direct the following year. The retailer also said it will transfer certain Marlborough operations to the parent company and phase out third-party fulfillment.
April 29, 1999
Jobless Claims Down Sharply
WASHINGTON - New applications for U.S. unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, the government said Thursday, suggesting job growth remains brisk.
Initial claims for state jobless benefits dropped 20,000 in the week ended April 24 to 294,000 from 314,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said. It was the second week in a row that claims were down.
The decline was much steeper than expected. U.S. economists in a Reuters survey had projected claims for the latest week would total 308,000.
Despite lower overall claims, the closely watched four-week moving average, which irons out week-to-week volatility, edged up slightly to 307,500 in the week ended April 24 from 306,250 in the April 17 week.
Although the four-week average has been rising gently over the past six weeks, the average is still close to the 300,000 level, which indicates a vigorous job market.
In an indication that more unemployed people are leaving the jobless rolls, the number of people who already qualified for a week of benefits fell to 2.159 million in the week ended April 17, the latest week for which figures are available, compared to 2.202 million in the previous week.
The falling jobless claims could reinforce expectations for signs of strength in the April employment report scheduled for release on May 7. In a preliminary Reuters poll, U.S. economists predicted a 234,000 rise in April, which would be a rebound from growth of just 46,000 in March.
The monthly employment report gives a broad look at labor-market conditions throughout the economy. The unemployment rate is at a 29-year low of 4.2 percent and is expected to have remained unchanged in April.

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