August 23 is Friends and Family Day at Boeing's Everett plant. Visitors with connections get to tour the bigger-than-Disneyland campus, and they might want to take advantage of that this year as opposed to next, because 275 Boeing employees in the Puget Sound area are getting 60-day layoff notices. Those are going to be a busy 60 days if Boeing means to hold to its 787-flies-at-year-end promise to Quantas. more ›

Starbucks' third quarter earnings beat market expectations, sending its stock up 8 percent. Don't assume this is because their new "we're not Starbucks" campaign or other gimmicks are working, though--most of the improved earnings is due to cutbacks, layoffs, and store closures. more ›

The Examiner reported yesterday that Google is purging their Seattle and Kirkland offices. "A source said the layoffs are coordinated in a fashion to avoid showing up on the radar of governmental, business, and media reporting agencies," writes Steve Speigel. "In other words, the layoffs are below the threshold of the various state and federal rules to avoid being identified and therefore having to pay large severances." more ›

One hundred lucky locals who work at Boeing are getting an extra special prezzie today: a pink slip! They're part of 668 workers world-wide the company's axing today. Good luck. more ›

Amazon is getting sued for broken Kindles and promises to replace them at no charge. JP Morgan says there will be no new layoffs in Seattle, where it purged WaMu's operations after taking it over several months ago. More UW scientists are cashing in on their lab work and raising venture capital to go into the biofuel business. more ›

The is reporting that due to Pentagon cuts, Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems, which employs 7,000 in the state, will be shedding at least 1,000 jobs. more ›

Just when Seattle Public Schools--as well as private schools--are tightening their budgets and laying off teachers, we hear a story about why they shouldn't. For nearly a decade 18-year-old Jessica Terry from Sammamish had been suffering from a mystery stomach illness that her doctors couldn't identify. But thanks to her AP Science class, the Eastside Catholic School senior analyzed her own intestinal tissue through a microscope and discovered that she had Crohn's disease. A pathologist later confirmed her self-diagnosis.
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If you or someone you know is a laid-off teacher, we just got a notice that Rebecca Vidmore, owner of A Nanny for U, a childcare placement service, is holding open meetings for teachers looking at a new career path or a job to tide them over until the school district regains its senses. Vidmore promises "steady work, a competitive salary, and a nurturing work environment." Plus, you don't have to photocopy textbooks. Meeting times and dates after the jump.
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We knew it was coming, but it still stings: Boeing has announced it will lay off 900 employees today of the 10,000 expected over the course of 2009. 700 of those employees will be from our area. Ouch....On the first day of spring, too. At least it's not sunny or anything, because that would really be unfair. more ›

The housing market might be crashing, the sky crumbling (oh...that's snow, you say?), and layoffs increasing, but don't worry: along with the booze biz, the tattoo industry here in Seattle is doing just fine. That doesn't really make sense to us except in conjunction with the liquor sales increase. People get laid off, get drunk, get a tattoo: it's a time-honored tradition. more ›

MyBallard points out an APB for Spewie, the purloined gargoyle. At the Henry Art Gallery, jobs are reportedly disappearing like unattended Rembrandts. And every day, the newspaper industry gets a little more grotesque: Reporter Newspapers, the chain of suburban weeklies owned by Canadian businessman David Black, laid off their photographers today, including a friend of Seattlest. more ›

First, check your smoke detector. The Bellevue woman who died in last night's fire had her smoke detector battery in backwards. Next, check with your supervisor: Boeing workers get their pink slips today. That's another 1,100 people who won't be working or shopping much, exacerbating Washington State's projected $8 billion budget shortfall. Check your credit limit, too. Do you really think it' a good idea to be buy all that new Ken Griffey merch? more ›

Since the only thing worse than being on the dole is being kicked off it, we're glad the feds are extending our unemployment benefits in this state. Even REI is cutting jobs. Guess that outdoorsy date scene from The Bachelor didn't help? more ›

Things are getting grimly humorous in the wake of layoffs that won't stop coming. A laid-off friend of ours was laughing about his job prospecting attempts resulting in people emailing him back, telling him they'd just learned their last day was coming up, and asking him if he knew of anything. Capitol Hill's Office Nomads is hoping to make a little pink slip lemonade out of this sudden boost in freelancers and newbie entrepreneurs. They want to pass their current 20-member peak in February, and they're offering a free month of daily drop-ins at their coworking space (desks, internet, fax, printer, conference room, kitchen) for new visitors with a pink slip or other proof of being laid off. Ex-Seattlester Charles Redell works out of there, so we can recommend them with confidence. more ›

Just last week we mentioned a memo that Starbucks layoffs were in the wind, but with the caveat that the cuts were supposed to hit management hardest. Half right. The Wall Street Journal says the carnage is in response to Starbucks earning only $64 million in the first quarter. Apparently the $64 million answer is to close 200 U.S. stores, with another 100 international locations on the chopping block, and to lay off 6,000 store employees, with another 700 culled from Seattle HQ and other field offices. For reaction, we turn to a commenter at Starbucks Gossip: "Holy s**t! It's the damn Titanic!!" CEO Howard Schultz has cut his salary to $10,000 from $1.2 million--the WSJ says, "Once his health-care coverage costs are deducted from his salary, Mr. Schultz will earn less than $4 a month." more ›

Fourth quarter wasn't good to Boeing, with a $56 million loss reported today by executives. The company expects to lay off 10,000 employees this year, 4,500 of which will be in their commercial airplanes division--and more than half of which will be local jobs down the hatch. We'd like to note for the record that we're getting tired of reporting all the layoff news from the biggest employers in our region, and once again extend our best wishes and send good financial vibes in the direction of those Seattleites who will be affected by the upcoming round of job cuts. Perhaps all the bad news signals the beginning of an era of unprecedented creativity and community building; that's what we're holding out for, anyway. In other job news, U.S. Customs is hiring. more ›

SBUX downsizing is in the P-I: A managing director at McAdams Wright Ragen is quoted as saying Starbucks may cut up to 1,000 jobs from its headquarters, and also some district managers and field employees--but not baristas. Over at Starbucks Gossip, the...well, the gossip is that previous layoffs have already affected customer service. more ›

• The B-Town blog's seventeen-year-old film critic loves racist grandpa Clint Eastwood. In other Burien child labor news, the blog has also taken on a fifteen-year-old intern.
• If someone broke into your car and stole your things sometime before December 11th, MetBlogs has the info on how to stop by a police station and claim that which has been ganked.
• Phinneywood reports that the 12,000 tons (24,000,000 lbs!) of sand spread during Snowmaggedon will be all cleaned up a week from today. As always, when it comes to city services, we'll believe when we see it.

Last week we mentioned Fudzilla's claim that Microsoft was going to cut up to 17 percent of its staff. Fudzilla has recanted the strong version of that statement, now saying that "staff" includes contractors and agencies. (All depends on what your definition of "staff" is.) This morning TechFlash has a Goldman Sachs analyst saying that Microsoft is likely to "cut heads" and a 10 percent number sounds "reasonable." But no matter how you slice it, any Microsoft cutback is bad for Seattle. The company has been a mainstay for many local marketing/PR firms, and the reductions in MIcrosoft spending that have already occurred have hit the sector hard. more ›

So is January 15, 2009, Microsoft's Black Thursday? Something called Fudzilla is claiming they have Microsoft staff tipping them to a cut of 15,000 employees (so long, MSN), which is about 17 percent of Microsoft's 90,000 total. This isn't coming from nowhere: apparently Microsoft was advised to make a 10 percent cutback in staff to show investors that people's livelihoods weren't as important as a short-term, 10 percent earnings gain. Ever since, the FUD has been swirling. Closer to home, Mini Microsoft has the complete roundup of layoff leaks, rumors, and innuendo, from "nothing's happening," to "it's a re-org," to "hey, if you work on Office, you're golden." more ›

TechFlash has a post today titled "Is Classmates.com Cutting Back?" based on what they're "hearing." What we're hearing is that a hiring freeze has been lifted (Exhibit A--look for jobs in Renton). And NWCN reports that Classmates.com is making money hand over mortarboard. (If that makes sense. We're just trying to keep it light, people. Mortarboard, it's fun.) So that's what we know. What do you hear? more ›

Joseph Skillings has had a hard year, and now it's getting worse. Back in January, he saw a man harassing someone at a bus stop; when he tried to call 911, the guy hit him in the head and Skillings fell to the ground, suffering serious brain damage. It's taken him a year of therapy and rehabilitation to be able to resume work even part-time as an elementary school teacher in Ballard. Now, a year later, the school district has been forced to lay off the poor guy for financial reasons. Owned! On the other hand, Skillings may be brain-damaged and out of a job, but he still has friends nice enough to give him frequent flyer miles so he can go to Hawaii for a month. Not too shabby. more ›

Adobe pink slips started arriving this afternoon, says the Unofficial Apple Weblog. Back in mid-November Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said, "People call this a financial crisis a lot more on the East Coast, but Silicon Valley will emerge stronger and cash flow is not a challenge for us. We have a very strong balance sheet and very deep franchises." So far the Twitter "Black Wednesday" reports are out of California; anyone have news on how this has hit Fremont? more ›

Hey now, Wearers of the Green Apron! We know there's at least one or two of you dying to spill the beans about the uber-mysterious company-wide conference call scheduled for tomorrow. Starbucks Gossipers are guessing the call (emceed by Uncle Howard himself) might be about labor cuts or more store closings. C'mon Sbuxians! We are dying to know what this is all about! If someone left us the call-in number and security code in the Seattlest Tip Jar, it'd be our little secret. As always. more ›

The Seattle Times reports that JP Morgan will lay off as many as 3,000 WaMu employees in the Seattle area, cutting the local WaMu workforce to just under a third of its former glory. Layoffs begin this week, and by December 1--in the thick of the holiday shopping season--all of the decisions will have been made about who stays and who goes. This doesn't come as a surprise, but the numbers are breathtaking and the impact on our local economy will be significant. From the Times article: "'It's pretty dire for Seattle,' said one former high-ranking executive." Brace yourselves--it's looking like a cold, lean winter ahead. more ›

TechFlash reports that the list of downsizing Seattle start-ups--Avelle, Intrepid Learning, AdReady, PayScale, and Redfin--has a new member. Jobster, which underwent some widely blogged about shrinkage last year, is saying goodbye to another 15 staff. With terrific understatement, John Cook notes that Jobster "has tested a number of different business concepts since it was founded in 2004," and says that it now is all about "online recruiting software that helps companies manage job prospects." If only the software had a reverse switch, you know, so you could just flip that and manage layoffs instead. That would be a huge seller right now. more ›

We'd heard that the media's other, cash-poor shoe would be dropping after the election, when all the campaign money dried up. But the Seattle Times is going shoeless a day early, with the announcement of a "workforce reduction of approximately 130-150 positions, a combination of voluntary separations and layoffs." Back in April, the Times shed 200 employees, and said then that further cuts might be necessary. What with classifieds, real estate, and financial services advertising down to a trickle of their former Niagaras, political advertising was the last...oh, we've done the shoe thing already. But you get the idea. Next up, similar news from the P-I? more ›

The Seattle Times reports that a whopping 400 county government jobs will be cut in King County Executive Ron Sims' 2009 budget. The cuts are part of Sim's plan to reduce county expenditures by $93 million for the next year, a significant belt-tightening. Sims did say that he's trying to delay budget cuts in health and human services, but still....400 jobs gone translates to a lot of men and women who will be looking for work soon. Anyone hiring? more ›

Jones Soda, local maker of odd-flavored sodas sweetened with actual sugar is still going through tough times. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, Jones Soda is laying off 42 of its 110 employees thanks to a second quarter loss of $2.7 million. Apparently, an effort to expand into can sales didn't fly, so 38 percent of the staff has to go. Most of those losing their jobs are in the sales department. Jones will keep selling canned soda in "only in the locations that have proven profitable." Shares in Jones lost 21 percent during today's overall stock market crash. more ›

Despite layoffs at seemingly every other major news outlet, CNN is adding 10 new regional reporters in the next year—including one based in Seattle. CNN is calling their new additions "all-platform journalists" (which sounds creepily sci-fi to us) and they will contribute to both on-air and online content. We can expect our very own Seattle CNN correspondent within the year. The other cities also being added to the CNN rotation? Minneapolis, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Raleigh-Durham, and Columbus, Ohio. more ›