http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ju...econ-j31.shtml
This week brought new indications that any economic “recovery” in the US will not be shared by the working class. Telecommunications giant Verizon announced that it would eliminate 8,000 jobs by the end of the year, new data showed that the foreclosure crisis is continuing to mount, and weekly initial jobless benefit claims rose.
What is emerging is a protracted period of extremely high unemployment and growing social misery, which will be used to further slash wages, increase productivity and lower the standard of living and social position of the working class.
Verizon will reduce its workforce by 8,000 for the second year in a row, after announcing a 21 percent decline in quarterly profits. The staff reductions will come largely through attrition, the company said, and will be focused on its land-line traditional phone service, which a growing number of consumers are abandoning.
Among other layoff announcements, some 1,000 workers will be dismissed from Ormet Aluminum in Monroe County, Ohio on September 1. Only 15,000 people live in the county, which is located close to the border with West Virginia.
The motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson will lay off 398 workers in Milwaukee at the end of September.
The small business web site firm, Intuit, is carrying forward plans to lay off 120 workers nationwide. And Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz has confirmed that her company's new search engine venture with Microsoft will lead to an as yet unknown number of redundancies.
More widespread job losses appear imminent. Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis said this week he intends to close over 600 branches. No time frame was given for the closures, which could affect thousands of workers.
It is anticipated that the other embattled financial giant, Citigroup, will follow suit. As the on-line business analysis journal 24/7 Wall Street reported, "[T]he financial industry is not done pruning jobs, not by a long shot."
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has said that it is considering shutting down a sizable majority, 3,105 of 4,851, of its post office branches and stations. Citing a growing operating deficit, USPS said the closures would target metropolitan areas.
It is not clear how many layoffs might result, but last year USPS said that 16,000 workers with fewer than six years experience—and hence unprotected by union seniority rules—could face layoffs. If carried forward, this would mark the first mass layoff in the history of the US postal system. Last year USPS reduced its workforce by 41,000 through attrition and a hiring freeze.
A number of industries are likely to pile on further layoffs in the coming months. The biggest blow could
