Layoffs

[blas]

This is it, boys and girls........at the factory, as of this morning, EVERY temp agency employee was let go because of too much manpower and not enough work.

Next step....if there is still too many people and not enough work......who goes next? The people with the least seniority, aka, people who have been there a year or less......

I really can't afford to get laid off. Even with unemployment (if I'd even qualify for it), with all my financial woes right now, and with the money argument with my roomate and the security deposit........hell......I doubt I'd be able to even afford my apartment anymore...........I'll be in such deep shit.

I could luck out and they could only eliminate employees who have been there 6 months or less....but I'm still scared. I'm trying not to lose sleep over it, I have enough stress in my life right now as it is with my roomate, I don't need another thing to keep me awake during the day when I should be sleeping peacefully.......I really can't afford this....

Please say a prayer for me

[Witch of Endor]

Then head it off at the pass.

Tell your temp agency that you need them to find something else for you now. Don't wait until you get laid off, just find something else and leave ASAP. Even if you spend some time without a job, it'll be shorter if you start now instead of waiting.

[blas]

Oh, I'm not a temp. I probably should have said that right on...but I'm a full time employee. I got hired on as a regular employee, not a temp, at the last job fair they had. They haven't had a regular job fair since I got hired, but there have been at least 5 temp job fairs.

I'm worried because if the situation calls for it, they can lay off full time employees. That's why I have my panties all in a bundle. Part of me doesn't want to believe it, because I have heard that plant hasn't had to lay off full time employees in 5 years, but with the way things have been going and our weekly goals being lowered every month....I can't help it.

[Der Cute]

Still.

If the money is tight enough to change labor budgets....you had better polish your resume and start looking.

Be proactive..not reactive.

Cutenoob

[Rapscallion]

Better to look now while you have a job than to start looking only if you do lose it.

Rapscallion

[blas]

This is absolutely horrible......I'm off tonight and tomorrow, and the MOD won't be in again until Monday morning (because big wigs don't come in at night, of course).

This is absolutely devastating. I am going to have to look for another manufacturing job...I have the experience and the training, and there is another factory where I live that is almost the same as the one I work at, just smaller. I'll try that one first. I need a place where I can get insurance and I'll need at least $9 an hour or more to keep surviving on my budget......I cannot go back to retail. I can't survive on $6.00 an hour with NO benefits.......it sounds selfish but I had some female health problems recently and I am due in March for a checkup to be sure my precancerous cells are gone.....I cannot afford all this stuff without insurance. If it wasn't FOR the insurance I have at my job, I wouldn't have gone to the doctor and it would have turned in to cancer, I would have never known. Not to mention, the 3 paid sick days a year is great and the personal vacation time...........I can't believe this is happening. The one GOOD part of my life where things are actually going my way is falling apart now, too. What next, is my cat going to die? Am I going to get taken out by a semi truck on my birthday tomorrow on my way home? And then what? My roomie is going to sue me for refusing to pay "my" half of the security deposit in small claims?

Retail was fine and $6 an hour got me along when I still lived with my parents and my only expenses were my car and my cell phone...........I hate growing up. I'm inventing a time machine and going back to 1987 right now.

[Witch of Endor]

I mean this in the nicest possible way. Stop catastrophising, and get off your butt and start helping yourself. If the company you work for is this unstable, and you need things like medical insurance, you should not be working for this company in the long run even if you don't get laid off this month.

[tollbaby]

Agreed. You're not going to improve your situation at all unless you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get out there to find something else It's scary as hell (trust me, I've gone through it recently, and it sucks - I'm a single mom with 2 kids), but at least you're getting a bit of warning and it wasn't presented to you as a done deal. Go out and start looking now, and chances are, you'll have something in place when the axe falls.

[blas]

I guess I shouldn't throw a pity party yet, because it's not even official and might not even happen.....but the idea scares the hell out of me, what with all my other problems I have right now.

You're right, at least there's a warning. The temps didn't get a warning. They found out at 8 am yesterday morning that they were finished as of today at 7 am. Those that work weekends? Too bad, you're gone. I mean, as a temp, it's to be expected, but to have it just hit you like a brick in the face like that...so random...that's such bullshit. I'm so angry we're losing out on some real good temps that would have definetly qualified to convert to regular employees.

[Arachne]

I know the fear reaction all too well.

The other day, I was falling asleep, or not falling asleep, to be more precise, and the doom patrol kicked in (as it often does when I can't sleep). I realized suddenly that Mr. Fly has left work to go back to school and is only bringing in what little money he gets from his grants and loans, and my father, who used to have the money to help us out if we needed it, has gone mostly over to teaching and achedemic work, which pays poorly. Frighteningly, it's my salary that is keeping us fed and clothed and not kicked out of our apartment.

AAAAAAAAAAA!

A little more responsibility than I wanted.

[Brighid45]

I'd say definitely get the resume out and polished up, and start looking. That way if you are laid off, you're already acting to get yourself other work and might even have a new job lined up right away.

I understand the fear, believe me. My roomie is probably going to get laid off in February from her work in the tech services department at the library. Her boss is trying to find a way to keep her on in a different capacity, but roomie is making noises about not accepting, which has me up at night talking with the wolf at the door and all her little cubs. There is no way I can work 40 hours at this point. I have talked with roomie about this, and I know she is thinking she can become an inert lump of flesh and force me into working full time. So I'm already looking for a new place to live closer to my workplace and packing up my stuff, just in case. *sigh* Sucks, but that's life.

[csdrone]

Think of the temps as a canary in a coal mine. When they go, then things are going to get bad. Do what you can to make yourself very valuable to the company if at all possible AND look for something else on the side (and be quiet about that at work). One bright spot: As a permanent employee, you may be offered outplacement. TAKE IT! Severance will be minimal and you will be eligible for unemployment. Best of luck to you!

[workerbee222]

There is nothing to be lost in applying for another job now.

One year ago, I was working for $8.20 an hour. The schedule changed weekly, I had little input regarding hours, etc. I got two "coachings" over the next six weeks, and quit.

I did some cold calling, just sitting at the telephone w/resume in hand, and going through the yellow pages to ask different businesses in the area, "Are you hiring?"

I found a job in a couple days. ($11.00 an hour) It held me through the summer.

I did something similar when the seasonal layoffs occured at the end of the summer.

One person I called said, "We're not hiring, but XYZ is looking for someone like you." XYZ didn't have an ad in, but I called them anyway. The man I interviewed with said he'd hire me, but wondered how happy I'd be in his department. Could he have someone else call me tomorrow? Long story short, in a week I had another job.

My new rate of pay isn't princely, ($15 an hour). But New Boss let me pick my hours and days. I'm not a keyholder, so if the weather is bad, I call and say I can't make it. And for what I do, that's about the top rate of pay for this profession, in this area.

[counterjockey]

It does sound like the writing's on the wall, Blas. As good of a job as it may be, it doesn't sound like something you can rely on in the near future. Now, you can go to the Wisconsin workforce office after you're laid off, but I'd recommend you do it before. A lot of employers use the state to help them find qualified applicants, and even a few months of factory experience goes a long way.

Go therehttp://www.wisconsinjobcenter.org/directory and get as much help as you can convince them to give you. They could give you a lead on another job, help you find assistance programs if you do get laid off, and maybe give you some advice about the kind of thing you want to do in the long term. I hate to say it, but the last thing I'd bank on is finding steady factory work to get you by for the next forty-odd years.

As far as dealing with the depression, it's tough as hell, I know. But try not to focus on all the stuff that's going wrong, all the options you don't have. Try as hard as you can to find something going right, find the options you do have, and make even one or two small steps. We've all been there, many of us are there right now (like me, for instance.)

I'll do a little digging around and if I find some more info to help you out I'll send it along. But by all means, make a call to the Workforce office and get an appointment there this week. I'm gonna try to do it myself so I can work towards moving on from the gas station, and if I have to then you have to.

[stormtreader]

Yup, its not going to make things any WORSE looking for a job, and your dream job might fall into your lap - you never know. Youd kick yourself if you missed it because you didnt look.