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SackWatch: new Crikey list
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The International Labour Organization released a devastating report overnight claiming 50 million workers could soon be on the scrapheap amid the worst global recession since the 1930s. With Australia’s official unemployment rate at 4.5% and even conservative economists predicting a jump this year to at least 7%, it seems we’re up for some serious Centrelink frustration. And if you believe Gary Morgan (and Pauline Hanson), the real jobless rate is already sitting at over 6.4% with 700,000 Australians out of work — leading economists say the so-called ‘hidden rate’ could skyrocket to 13%, which would equate to another 700,000 Australians joining unofficial dole queues this year. On Tuesday, an NAB survey of 400 mid to large-size companies said hiring intentions were at their lowest level since the early 1990s. Australia clearly isn’t immune from the global carnage, as you can see in our inaugural Crikey SackWatch: Wizard Home Loans: 50 back-office staff to go from parent company GE Money in transition to new ownership under Aussie Home Loans
BHP Billiton: 3400 locally and 6000 globally, with the possibility of more to come Rio Tinto: 14,000 globally with 600 jobs slashed from its Perth office Macarthur Coal: 180 jobs on the back of tumbling commodity prices Oz Minerals: 70 jobs from its Cuddles mine Xstrata: 230 workers and production staff shed at its Queensland coking coal mines David Jones: 150 head office jobs cut alongside floor staff
Myer: Part-time hours repeatedly reduced by 20% with six full-timers sacked from the Geelong store
National Australia Bank: 120 jobs in its wealth management division in Melbourne and Sydney PriceWaterhouseCoopers: 170 staff ousted yesterday to add to 40 cuts last November BDO Kendalls: 12 accountants let go after end-of-year performance reviews Pitcher Partners: 12 senior audit staff, although this was later denied by the firm
ANZ: 800 jobs in middle management
Macquarie Bank: 100 staff across its Australian investment arm
Suncorp: 1500 staff to go, according to internal memos
Westpac: 5000 jobs could be lost as part of the St George takeover Axa Asia Pacific: 90 staff cuts announced in December Fairfax: 550 Australasian jobs as part of last year’s ‘business improvement program’ News Limited: Six sport reporters joining more than 40 sacked HWT editorial staff across the country, according to a tip received yesterday Qantas: 40 call centre jobs to add to 1500 sackings last year Ford: 350 workers from its Geelong and Broadmeadows plants Ford Credit Australia: 160 jobs as local operation pares back to bare-bone levels Holden: Workers temporarily laid off for five weeks as production halted Nissan: 50 staff from its Victorian aluminum casting plant
CSR: 115 jobs at its Geelong and Laverton automotive glass plants as production stops Goodman Fielder: 400 staff set to go this year as bakeries close Deacons: 15 property and finance lawyers DLA Phillips Fox: 12 lawyers Corrs Chambers Westgarth: 14 lawyers Have you been sacked? Send your tales of job cut woe to boss@crikey.com.au with “sackwatch” in the subject field and we’ll keep the list updated as a handy HR reference point. |
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4 Comments
Ah, what a great idea! At least we won`t feel that we are alone in the cesspool, but how about a Workers` Fightback Watch, to demonstrate that we don`t just meekly accept our fate, meted out by those that have caused this dire situation in the first place
Yes I agree llmxly, sackings are a rather brutal response to the problem. Some of us argue that now is the time to develop staff to respond to what the future will look like. We say that organisations that strip themselves to the bare bones will not be in any position to respond when things get better. This GFC is significant as it coincides with the urgent environmental need to change the way business is done. If all these people are un-employed they will lose skills and potentially will be behind the eight ball, as with the organisations who sacked them. Organisations that keep their staff and look to what the future will be like and develop them accordingly will spring back faster than those that don’t. If reducing cost is really necessary, then yes, move people to less time rather than no time. We have to stop attempting to prop up the past because it is exactly that, the past.
Those drongo Top? management and Board Members at Macquarie Bank?should sack themsleves . Greed is not good!
Those drongo Top? management and Board Members at Macquarie Bank?should sack themsleves . Greed is not good!