Local Layoffs, and job losses (Columbia, Bristol: sales, manufacturing, health)

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by Mrk9

My wife is a letter carrier 20 years now and I am a Kitchen Designer for The Home Depot

Assuming that you and the wife can get transfered here, it's not a bad place to live, small, little traffic, pretty countryside. As to employment and wages in general, those are really the only down side to being here, speaking of which I read that the post office is laying off 40,000 nationwide, first for them, thanks to email I suppose. My wife was hired as a casual at the local post office early last year and was only called to work one period just before christmas, she made a grand total of $648 for the year With the decrease in new home construction and remodeling, I'd dare say that the Home Depot/Lowes model is in for some downsizing, but I could be wrong as there is a brand new Lowes coming to Jonesborough and bringing jobs with it (good).

TN is worth a visit, definitely think about moving here, it's a nice place.

Take care.

Tony

p.s. Mbmouse is a tremendous asset to East TN, a tireless welcome wagon to newcomers and a source of enthusiasm for all of us to draw from, as for me, I am too negative, but that's who I am,

[Mrk9]

[quote=Tony1790;7165176], speaking of which I read that the post office is laying off 40,000 nationwide, first for them, thanks to email I suppose.
Tony

My wife thinks the layoffs may be a lot of the te's (temp employee's) and casuals they hire for the busy season. Sorry your wife did not get more time in. Seems once you do get on your own route it's good from there. She also started as a part time flex or what they call casuals now, did that for about 5 years b4 getting her own route. Any way we have a lot to consider as we have lived in Wyoming for 30 some years. By the way, you may sound negative to a lot of people but many do not give much thought to what they do, so a little caution would be good Good advice!!

[bound2TN]

Originally Posted by Tony1790

Howdy,

I like serving up a balanced look at our area for newcomers, I often get chastised for being negative. The way I see it, 99.9999 percent of the people are 100% move here, move now, TN is great (it is!!), having said that, the ONLY thing that I warn people about are jobs or the lack of good paying jobs.

So as a service to those that are looking to move here without a job lined up, here is my recent observance of the local job market.

Eastman was in the paper recently laying off 40 people and cutting their budget $100 million.

Bush Hog is on a 2 week shut down and it was reported in the paper that they are for sale.

Kennametal has cut pay by having people take some unpaid time off (limited episodes) instead of laying off more people than they already have. This was told to me today by the wife of a worker there.

Ruby Tuesday closing, Goody's in bankruptcy, Wellmont hospital has a hiring freeze for non nursing staff, and nursing staff have been called off alot more often now (no work).

Several husbands of the girls in my Nursing class have been laid off, with no hope of getting a new job anytime soon.

This bad jobs news isn't all inclusive, I'm sure there are companies hiring and the bad news isn't TN specific, the whole country has companies either laying people off or cutting back on hours to prevent layoffs.

So, what's my point, I've said it before and was told in no uncertain words to mind my own business, but I'll say again......IN MY OPINION....you should NOT move to TN without a job lined up prior to getting here. Ultimately, do what you want, but just do it knowing that you may not find a job or if you do it's most likely a low paying job, partially balanced with a lower cost of living, but not all balanced out.

Take care, I hope that I wasn't too negative and if I was I'm sorry, but if you are mad about this post......don't read it

Tony

P.S. Who else is laying off, or better yet who is HIRING? That'd be good news. Lowes should be hiring in Jonesborough when the new store is done!

Dear Tony:
Thank you for your "negative" reporting---Except I would call it "realistic."
Mike

[rccrain]

Negative is OK when it is accurate. Positive is OK when it is accurate. Thus, we should all strive for accuracy when advising newcomers.

[Tony1790]

Good news, Bushhog is back to work (still for sale), and so is one of the welders I know. Bad news now home depot is laying people off, don't know if any local jobs will be effected.

When does Lowes open? I've been a Home Depot shopper mainly due to Lowes turning me down for a Lowes card 22 years ago.....I tend to hold a grudge

Tony

[jchometeam]

The new Lowes is supposed to open in April I believe.

[kamoshika]

King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today restructuring and workforce reduction initiatives it is taking to decrease the Company’s operating expenses. These actions, when combined with the reduction in headcount arising from King’s recent acquisition of Alpharma Inc., result in a total workforce reduction of approximately 22% or approximately 760 positions.
King Pharmaceuticals®, Inc. (http://www.kingpharm.com/Investors/News_Details.cfm?news_item_id=503 - broken link)

[jabogitlu]

Ouch. Is King headquartered in Bristol, or is it a regional base, or what?

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Ouch. Is King headquartered in Bristol, or is it a regional base, or what?

From what I understand most, if not all, positions are/were located in Bristol.

[Tony1790]

Just an update to an old thread, more layoffs, this time with my employer. Today's front page of the JC paper hit a little too close to home, headline: "Wellmont to layoff 40", unfortunately that only tells part of the story. In the article, it mentions the Jan 2009, 86+ layoffs (but not the 40+ unfilled positions) and says that those layoffs were not bedside care positions. The current 40+ layoffs are of Nurses, CNA's, etc.

What's not mentioned in the article is that for the lucky few that haven't been laid off, the remaining personnel have had their hours cut by 24 hours per month or more. I was working 24 hours per week while going to school full time, the current schedule has me working 24 hours per month

I know that MSHA had layoffs earlier in the year, but I haven't heard anything about them having round 2 of layoffs like Wellmont is doing. These layoffs are in addition to benefit cuts, etc.

I am supposed to finish LPN school in August, I start back next week. But at this rate, what's the point?

Sorry for the addition to the Layoff report, and I really, really mean it this time

Tony

p.s. From what I've been reading, the nursing layoffs, hiring freezes isn't unique to East TN, I've read about freezes in other parts of TN and other states. Of course the freezes are in hospitals, I think that their still are some jobs in LTC, but you need to be in a hospital right out of school for experience.