I'd also like to add, that despite a labour shortage in Calgary, things "feel" like they are tightening up. My boss fired a Journeyman two weeks ago. And my boss is freaked out about a huge market crash, both the housing and job market.

Calgary eh? I just moved from there 3 months ago. I hear its crashing pretty badly.

I spoke too soon apparently, my boss sold part of the company to another electrical company and we'll be doing our own thing while the other does theirs. They are like 9-10 times the size of us so, we might be headed for the door.

The cuts really haven't bothered me.

no change, except where we had difficulties findling ppl to work the job i do that´s no longer the case. we´ll see when i get back in january though....

Hmmmmm . . . Famous Last Words.
I was laid off Nov 14th.

I work in a pediatrics office. 10 nurses, including myself, 3 doctors, 5 nurse practioners.

One NP offered to resign.

Starting next Weds. we're subletting 2-3 rooms of ours for a pediatric gastroenterologist.

My office is trying to avoid layoffs as much as possible. No raises, but we did have a Christmas party that had gifts, which was nice.

Unfortunate for me, I worked in a dying industry for a company that had been overpaying and undersupervising for years...is that even a word?? Where was I? Oh yeah, way over paid, bosses did little or nothing to discipline those who didn't do their work, guys with a warped reality and no clue what the real world is like and thought our Union was run by Zeus himself.

It was only a matter of time, I just didn't think it would be this soon. I left a retail job I was at for 12+ years to come work for the local newspaper 3 years ago as an apprentice pressman. 4 year apprenticeship I was coming up on 3 years and word started to spread that layoffs were coming and we wouldn't be getting any severance package. 2 rounds of layoffs with 16 guys going on November 8th (I was #17) and an additional 10 being let go by the end of the 1st Q of 09. Well everyone is down in the dumps and they decide on Nov 6 that they will just let the other 10 go with the first 16 on the 8th :( So I got a 2 day notice that I was losing my job, I got 2 weeks of pay for every year of service and 6 weeks of insurance.

Now they are down to 59 guys, overtime FLYING out the door, they are forcing guys in to work and even had retirees coming in and filling shifts....and I sit here on unemployment and haven't gotten any hits on a new job since I got laid off.


Did I mention that I got laid off on my three year anniversary TO THE DAY!! I started there Nov. 8 2005 my last night of work was Nov. 8 2008.

Let's see.....To make it easier to understand, I work at a local Chevrolet dealership as a team leader in the service department....

Company wide:

Lost 401k match.
Insurance premium increase to reduce employer contribution.

Service Department:

Service writers no longer get paid a percentage of parts(used to get 5.5% of parts, now get 0%)
Base weekly salary unchanged, but due to loss of parts, now have to work twice as hard to earn same amount as before.

Service Technicians:

No raises for 2 years
Hiring freeze
decrease in wages for pre-sold service work (i.e. oil changes, transmission service, brake service...etc) of $4.00 per hour.
Base commision unchanged



So we are feeling the crunch as well in the automotive industry. Since people are having financial troubles themselves, they are putting off what they feel is unneeded work until the dang car breaks, then having to pay twice as much to get it fixed, go figure...Big risk if you ask me, but hey, if you can't afford it, you can't afford it.

Just curious, what has your dealership done with customer pay labor rates? I work on the claims side of the extended warranty business and we have noticed a HUGE increase in labor rates in the last few months. We have dealers that sell our contracts that were at $82/hr in 2004 and $100/hr 6 months ago are demanding $130-135/hr now. I guess they are trying to make up the loss in sales by getting it all back on the service side. Plus we pay MSRP on parts and most shops charge 10-25% over MSRP. It used to be the dealers that sold the service contract didn't go after the customer for the difference, but now a lot of them are. Plus we are getting hammered on upsells. Then shops get pissed when we send adjusters out to the shops to verify everything. Our average claim cost has gone up almost 35% in the last year, which I worry will hurt the viability of my company in the next year or so.

I can't speak for all the dealers, but our labour rates have not changed in the 4 months that I have been here. we are at $98 hr for all customer pay work. Many dealerships have converted over to the grid system which I not only hate, but thing is very unfair, especially in the way it is applied, but then that could start an entire thread on it's own...

Parts prices are usually set by GM, and we will cut prices to try and make a sale rather than lose the entire job. I have at times cut my labour time to also help make a sale. I would rather get 1.5 hours say for a job, that try and get the normal 2.0 hours and lose out on the entire job.

I don't mind so much about having an adjuster come out. I know what is wrong with the car, and could care less what an adjuster might think. Many times I have told an adjuster that if he didn't agree with my diagnosis, he was more than welcome to bring his own tool box out and diagnose the vehicle himself! I DO get tired of the adjusters who USED to be technicians, and think they know more than me about the car I am working on. What really gets to me is the adjuster asking me to show him step-by-step hwo I did my diagnosis. I simply tell him that I did my job, was not going to do it again, but if he was willing to pay me additinal time I would be more than happy to diagnose the EXACT same problem again! lol. That usually shuts them up.

The owner of the studio where I work would step over a dollar to pick up pennies....
She's been crying "no money" for months, but right before Christmas had a sprinkler system installed in her gardens, both at work and at home(her husband just rolled his eyes).
She needs new clientele, but when I printed out a flyer offering "Loyal Customer" rewards, she said she had something like that already. Actually, it was "loyal customer" dollars we handed out in September, and I think we got back maybe three. Her husband, who runs the school, wedding and sports of the company, thought my idea was terrific, pointing out to her what hasn't been happening while money's being spent. It fell on deaf ears.
She spent over $800 on a mailing to sports leagues, hiring out to have it done instead of having us in the office do it. Not one response.
I suggested taking the latest flyer and placing it on a local community bulletin board-that's free advertising. She said no.
This is a woman who says she has a degree in marketing.....
Today I was told that if we don't get some new business quick, "You'll be laid off". She had better meant the collective "you"-I'm not the newest employee.

I work for myself so no cutbacks. So far
However, my boss is a real prick. :)

We've already cut back due to current industry trends. We've expanded into new markets to compensate, and have much potential for growth. The current economy (on both sides of the border) doesn't help, but we should manage, being a small company that can maneuver quickly.

What we've cut back are the number of book titles we publish per season, plus the size of the initial print runs. Print-on-demand has already come in handy in some instances (thank god it's stopped sucking). Inventory management is a killer when you deal with a third-party distributor and a quasi-monopolistic book chain.

We used to get lunch pretty much every day, that's gone. Bottles of water, gone, but they are still getting the 10 gal. things for the water cooler. Free snacks disappeared as well, chips, cookies, etc. Free breakfast, gone.

Also our execs took a 10% paycut, and refused bonuses for the year. All raises were stopped, 401K match was ended, our portion of the insurance went up by $180/month, and all merit increases were suspended indefinitely.

On top of that, they just layed off 10% of our workforce...good times. I blame Global Warming.

But what's your pay compared to others?
Although I was the last person laid off at my company, they kept a younger, less experienced worker who was hired two years after I was. There is nothing she can do that I can't do; there are many things I can do that she can't. But they kept her instead of me.

Why? Because her salary was half of mine. By letting me go, they saved the company more money. Nice, huh? And then they say, "Nothing personal - it's just business."

Such a great way to show appreciation for years of experience and loyalty.

While what happened to you in that situation sucked, you have to realize that businesses have a purpose, and that is to thrive and make a profit. By reducing the cost of employment, they can attempt to bring the cost of running that business down. I have had my own shop before, and had to lay off a good friend quite a while back. And I told him the same thing. it WASN'T personal. I had to make cutbacks, and unfortunately he was the highest paid employee I had at the shop. Fortunately he understood and didnt stay angry for very long. Consider this an oportunity to find something new and challenging!