AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT OWENS ILLINOIS (09/22/23)

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 — WACO, TEXAS PLANT SHUTTING DOWN WITH 300 LAYOFFS

The company has announced that it is ceasing bottle-making production at its Waco, Texas facility on October 16, 2023, and officially closing its doors in December 2023.

Around 300 total employees will have lost their jobs, including the 90 laid off in February of this year.

A company spokesperson noted, “O-I Glass has been a proud member of the Waco community, producing sustainable glass packaging for the beer, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverage markets since 1944. O-I continuously evaluates the long-term needs of the business and the viability of the assets at each manufacturing facility to best serve our critical customer base. As such, a decision has been made to close the Waco facility.”

FEBRUARY 7, 2023 — FURNACE DAMAGE LEADS TO 90 LAYOFFS IN WACO, TEXAS

According to a company spokesperson, “One of our furnaces has experienced ongoing damage and continued decline in performance due to thermal shock resulting from the power and gas outages during the freeze of February 2021. The company will restructure the workforce and the facility to focus on the two remaining furnaces.”

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 — 93 EMPLOYEES TO BE LAID OFF IN PORTLAND, OREGON

The company has announced that it will be idling one of its glass furnaces in Portland, Oregon, and laying off 93 employees in the process. The company states that they do not know if or when the furnace may be reactivated. The layoffs are scheduled to commence December 30, 2019.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 — Previous post…

Perrysburg, Ohio-based Owens-Brockway Glass Container, manufacturer of glass containers, is continuing its three-year transformational program and has announced that the company will be idling one of their glass furnaces in their Waco, Texas plant and laying off approximately 75 employees commencing on November 7, 2019. The decision was based on market economics with a softer demand for beer in the United States. According to a company spokesperson, “With continued softer demand in the U.S. across the beer category, O-I plans to idle one of the furnaces it uses to manufacture glass containers at its Waco facility for an indefinite duration/ This particular furnace is dedicated 100% to producing beer bottles. The remaining furnaces will continue to produce some beer as well as spirit and food glass packaging."

“As the Company remains focused on enabling its strategy to create long-term shareholder value, specific actions are underway to accelerate performance. In addition to the Company's highly successful Total Systems Cost initiative, an accelerated cost reduction initiative is being launched to help advance productivity and cost take-out across the enterprise and will be supported by a leading third-party consulting organization. And, the Company continues its strategic review of its business portfolio in order to focus on core operations best aligned with the interests of the Company and its strategic customers. This review is in addition to O-I's current tactical divestiture program and is supported through the Company's ongoing engagement with Goldman Sachs.”

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? IS THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL AT HSBC

JUNE 18, 2020 — PLAN TO CUT 35,000 JOBS WORLDWIDE WILL COMMENCE SOON

The complan has announced the resumption of its plan to reduce costs and personnel, including laying off 35,000 employees and a hiring freeze.

According to a company spokesperson, “We could not pause the job losses indefinitely - it was always a question of ‘not if, but when’.”

Most impacted are employees in the back office of Global Banking and Markets, including merging its private banking and wealth business, reducing the European equity business and the U.S. retail network.

OCTOBER 6, 2019 — HSBC PREPARED TO LAUNCH “PROJECT OAK” WHICH WILL SEE UP TO 10,000 LAYOFFS GLOBALLY.

The company continues to tout Project Oak as an effective response to economic uncertainties in Europe and elsewhere.

The program is targeted at highly-paid executives and managers, especially those who cannot shrink their respective teams to acceptable levels.

It appears that these layoffs may be in addition to the previously mentioned 4,700 planned layoffs.

It is unknown how many employees in the United States or U.S. citizens working abroad will be affected.

Previous Post…

London, United Kingdom-based HSBC, parent to HSBC Bank USA, has announced the departure of CEO John Flint and signaled its intention to eliminate thousands of jobs to compensate for “an increasingly complex and challenging global environment.” HSBC Bank USA is still operating in turnaround mode.

According to published reports, “HSBC’s finance director Ewen Stevenson said up to 2% of the bank’s 237,685 employees could lose their jobs. He said the cuts, aimed at shaving up to 4% off HSBC’s wage costs, target senior roles and will come from a mix of layoffs and attrition as people leave for other jobs. HSBC said severance costs this year would be $650 million to $700 million, saving it around that much annually going forward.”

In a statement to the financial media…

“On outlook, we continue to progress towards our 2020 return on tangible equity target, but the interest rate outlook has softened relative to the first quarter, and geopolitical risks have heightened across many of our major markets. In response to this we’re actively managing costs and investment growth in order to respond to a more challenged revenue outlook.”

“However, one priority where we’re not on track is the turnaround of our US business. While good underlying progress has been made on costs and capital – costs were down 7% in the second quarter relative to the second quarter in 2018 and we got CCAR approval to dividend a further $1.8 billion of capital back to the Group ‒ the US revenue outlook has become more challenged in recent months. There’s been a sizable shift in US dollar interest rate expectations, so we’re now not expecting to achieve a 6% return on tangible equity in 2020. But we recognize that current returns in the US are not acceptable, and it remains a firm priority of ours to improve these.”

Look for the pace of turnaround changes to HSBC Bank USA under the guidance of the recently hired Michael Roberts, Citigroup’s 34-year veteran who served as Citigroup’s chief lending officer and global head of corporate banking and capital management.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT INTEGRIS HEALTH

Oklahoma City-based Integris Health, Oklahoma’s largest not-for-profit and state-owned health care system, has announced that they have laid off 171 corporate and non-clinical employees in a system-wide reduction in force.

According to a company spokesperson, ““Health care continues to be a dynamic industry that requires health systems like INTEGRIS to transform and adapt to market realities. INTEGRIS is committed to getting in front of the challenging market dynamics to ensure INTEGRIS stays well positioned for the future. At the beginning of our fiscal year, we determined several adjustments were necessary. As of today, we are eliminating 171 positions – most of which are corporate, non-clinical positions. Although this reduction represents only 1.6% of our 10,400-caregiver workforce, we recognize it has real impact. When a position is eliminated, every effort is made to match the outplaced individual to an open INTEGRIS position. Where no match exists, we provide resources and assist in locating another employment opportunity. INTEGRIS continues to be well positioned but we must focus our resources on patient care services to ensure our patients and families can continue to depend on us in their time of greatest need.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?