Cost Cutting

12,400 jobs lost in Q2

SOME 12,400 jobs were lost in the second quarter, double the losses in the first three months when 6,200 workers were laid off, said the Ministry of Manpower on Friday.
This is the first time that employment has contracted for two consecutive quarters since the 2003 economic downturn.
Manufacturing again bore the brunt of job losses, [...]

12,000 SIA staff to take 10% pay cut after carrier posts loss in Q1

An estimated 12,000 non-management staff at Singapore Airlines (SIA) will take a pay cut of 10 per cent for at least three months starting from August 1.
This comes after the carrier posted a S$271 million loss at the company level in the first quarter.
As a group, SIA’s net loss was S$307.1 million for the three [...]

No bonuses for Temasek staff

THE entire staff of Temasek Holdings are taking personal financial hits, with annual bonuses likely to be slashed in the wake of the investment firm’s losses over the past year.
Part of every Temasek employee’s bonus goes into a pool that is paid out over a number of years rather than at the end of each [...]

Pay cuts for SIA management, CEO

SINGAPORE – All management staff in Singapore Airlines (SIA) will from July take a salary cut of at least 10 per cent, including its chief executive, who will take a 20 per cent cut.
SIA also said on Friday that it had signed an agreement with pilots under which they will take one-day unpaid leave each [...]

Toyota targets $1.46b cost cut

TOKYO – JAPAN’S Toyota Motor aims to cut the cost of producing its compact cars by a billion dollars a year as their demand is likely to grow amid the global recession, a report said on Sunday.
The world’s top automaker plans to use common platforms and parts for the bulk of its compact cars by [...]

Nikon to axe staff, downsize in Singapore

JAPANESE camera and precision equipment maker Nikon Corp is cutting 1,000 jobs worldwide but no staff will be axed here although it will downsize its small Singapore unit.
It will lay off 800 out of its 2,900 Japanese manufacturing staff and 200 from the 1,700-strong workforce employed in overseas marketing and servicing and domestic servicing.
The firm [...]

Club 21 to shut iShop , More than 30 Jobs at stake

LUXURY retailer Club 21 is pulling the plug on its iShop at Orchard Cineleisure – billed as the largest store of its kind in Asia – because of weakening sales. The flagship technology outlet, which employs more than 30 staff, will close by the end of this month.
The 10,000 sq ft store sold Apple computers [...]

Nokia to lay off 170 workers worldwide

Nokia Corp. said Tuesday it will lay off 170 workers worldwide to further cut costs as the global downturn continues to weaken demand in the mobile phone industry.
The job cuts, in production and logistics for mobile devices, will not affect production employees at Nokia’s mobile device manufacturing facilities, the world’s biggest handset maker said.
Nokia said [...]

NASA to begin layoffs as shuttle retirement nears

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – The U.S. space agency NASA plans to eliminate 900 manufacturing jobs over the next five months as it prepares to retire its space shuttle fleet in 2010, NASA officials said on Thursday.
The first 160 layoff notices go out on Friday, primarily to contractors producing the space shuttle fuel tanks outside [...]

Nokia to cut 450 jobs globally

HELSINKI – NOKIA, the world’s leading mobile phone maker, said on Tuesday it planned to cut some 450 jobs globally as it reorganises its services unit.
In addition, Nokia plans to streamline its corporate development office, including internal information technology (IT) and industry collaboration activities.
‘Altogether, approximately 450 employees globally will be impacted by the plans announced [...]