Results tagged “layoffs”

New Hampshire might lay off 750 workers after Labor Day, reports WBZ. The Live Free or Die State, which doesn't levy a sales or individual income tax, is in a budgetary crisis, and the word of the layoffs comes after a disagreement between the State Employees Association and Governor John Lynch over unpaid furloughs. [reports WBZ}

Layoffs have been hanging over the heads of Harvard employees like the sword of Damocles since word of staff reductions started to circulate in February. Today, Harvard President Drew Faust let workers know that the string was about to snap, the sword was about to fall, and heads were about to roll. 275 heads, to be exact.

If selling eggs isn't the recession solution for you, perhaps you'd prefer to spend money to make money. Reuters reports that folks are getting plastic surgery to look better for job interviews. Research has shown that good-looking folks earn more and are also more likely to get gigs, so the drastic action makes sense&dmash;though it is still quite a gamble. We still think you might do better to focus on developing your actual skills: after all, no one can see how good you look on paper.

Today, Mayor Menino will present Boston's proposed 2010 budget to the city council. The budget balancing magic derives from laying off more than 500 workers, including 212 teachers and classroom aides, 67 police officers, 44 police cadets, 39 community center employees, and 26 library workers. Even horses are being let go: some of the police officers are mounted patrol, meaning that 24 horses will have to find new adoptive homes. Those figures are somewhat prematurely alarmist, though: successful wage negotiations, particularly with unions, could mean reduction in hours or wages rather than layoffs, and resignations can cover some of the teacher cuts. Stimulus money from the federal government might also help out. All is not lost, but there is cause for concern.

The Herald laid off 24 people recently, 13 voluntarily and 11 involuntarily. In a twist on recent reductions in reporting staff, the cuts were made on the business side of the paper instead of in the newsroom. The voluntary departures were partially in response to a buyout offer sent to 20 folks. The Globe is also suffering in this economy, recently offering buyouts to 50 employees; 24 accepted.

Eddie Doyle is sorta Sam Malone, except somewhat older and endowed with a reasonably rad mustache. But even fine facial hair couldn't save him from this economy: the longtime Cheers bartender has been laid off like millions of other Americans. The sixty-something Doyle had been at Cheers for almost 35 years and was known for holding charity events at the bar, where he also met his wife. Everyone laments the loss, but an insider speculates that Doyle's longevity may have made him too costly for the company. When you can hire college students who've never seen Cheers to pour beers for a quarter of the price, the value of knowing everybody's name pales a little bit—but at the same time, that's what makes a bar worth going to. It's a loss for the community, but we hope Doyle's smiling face will still be seen around town. And if he needs a new job, maybe he can go into moustache consultation.

Because we've got to accentuate the positive in every situation, the Globe is out with a new article on how to love being laid off. Not working is great because you can spend time with your kids, find new hobbies, and just plain hang out. How cool!

Boston's best blogger just lost his day job. Does that mean an exponential increase in UHub posts coming our way? Or will the Globe take Adam Reilly's advice and give Adam Gaffin a job?

--Were you affected by the water main burst and the subsequent natural gas problems? There's an emergency center open at City Hall. [WBZ]

--The Department of Social Services, whose name has come up more than once in investigations of the deaths of children in this state, received a D minus from the watchdog group the Children's Advocacy Institute. [Boston Herald, DSS in Bostonist]

Hingham Weather, which is the source for the game of musical chairs that is local TV news, reported that local TV station WBZ laid off about 30 people yesterday.

Rumors have been blowing around in the windy Back Bay streets by their corporate headquarters for weeks. In 2002 the company was purchased for about $1.7 by three private equity firms, two of Boston, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, and the Blackstone Group of London and New York from the then French owners, Vivendi Universal. The publisher came back to the Boston roots they put down in the mid-eighteen hundreds. Today a deal was reached that will put Houghton Mifflin in the hands of the Irish based Riverdeep for a mere $3.4 billion. When the deal is finalized the new joined company is expected to operate under the name Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group PLC, though it's not quite clear if subsidiaries Houghton Mifflin Company and Riverdeep will continue to operate independently.

Bostonist was surprised to read the Boston Herald headline “Hotline: Get a crack at ‘The Nutcracker’.” From recent features in the Herald we’ve come to expect more racy headlines like “Get Crack at ‘The Nutcracker’.” The Boston Ballet production is playing on Washington St. in the Theatre District at the Opera House, close to the Common and the darker streets of Boston at night. We hoped we’d find a bit of juice in the Herald blurb, unfortunately no candid shots of drug deals, just a heads up on an appearance of some Nutcracking characters at Copley Place Center.