Comments on: Authentic Responses to Recession? Try Alternatives to Layoffs

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:47:17 +0000

Fatsima,
I was also one of those laid off with no warning, called in for a Friday meeting, and blindsided as management cuts were made. I watched my company whose motto is “take care of your employees, and they’ll take care of your guests” lay off the exuecutive chef of 27 years (who has an autistic son). I was the most valuable agent in the front office leadership team, but it came down to “years of service” and I was laid off rather than the idiot we’ve had 1 week longer than my 3 years of service. I, too, was incensed by Bill Marriott’s heartless comments about new properties. I was blinded by the Forbes top ten into thinking that this company really cared about me, and I could depend on my benefits (which thankfully paid for my stepdaughters spinal surgery before being laid off). I accepted the severance package (which you should DEFINITELY seek with a lawyer if neccessary) and will be happy to collect the unemployment Marriott will be paying the government to pay me while I relocate in the hospitality industry. And today, I received a call from the Whitehall group, contracted by Marriott to contact all of us who were laid off. She presented herself as a “career transition specialist”, that would help me avoid collecting unemployment and finding a new job with Marriott’s help. Laughable to say the least! They sure don’t want us to reap the benefits we will collect from the wages they will lose paying into unemployment! How ridiculous. Needless to say, I told her to put it where the sun doesn’t shine. I’ve had enough “help” from Bill Marriott, tyvm. I hope that someday, while all the execs in MD are stuffing their pockets with Christmas and operational bonuses, that someone will expose the sham of a company Marriott really is. They care for the employees and spread the propaganda machine as long as it suits them, and decided to be “proactive”, which is surely the same line you were fed. Rather than leaving Joe Blow with his job, and making sure the economy flows well, Joe can’t afford to go to WalMart, and so Walmart lays off it’s employees. It’s a vicious cycle, and of course no exec or manager or millionaire cares to see the only real destroyers of the economy are the ones like Marriott, who choose to make sure they make 10 billion next year instead of the 9.5 billion they would have made if they had kept all of their loyal employees, who built the empire they preside over. :::getting off the soapbox now::: Thanks for nothing, Bill.

By: Fatsima

Fatsima — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 05:03:06 +0000

Wow! You guys speak the truth. I wa laid off yesterday by one of Forbes top companies to work for Marriott. We did not recieve any notice and the employees who retained their jobs have had their vacations cancelled to fill in for the laid off workers. Meanwhile Bill Marriott blogs about building new hotels and how great it is to be a Marriott employee. Corporate America is the modern Pharoah!!

By: CV Harquail

CV Harquail — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:31:20 +0000

Tramky- Your so right in saying about so many explanations of layoffs” “Itâ€™s just corporate doublespeakâ€“it sounds strangely comforting, but is a blatant lie.” That’s my point exactly– in the next post where Stephen Colbert plays CEO. Thanks for your comments. cvh

By: tramky

tramky — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:15:55 +0000

Gobbledygook. There is no such thing as ‘authentic’ or ‘inauthentic’ mass layoffs–they’re just layoffs. Employees are out of a job, period!

I love the thing at Charles Schwab, about being promised a cash bonus if a laid-off employee is hired back within 18 months–is that how Schwab punishes itself? And more importantly, will we hear how many employees actually COLLECT that bonus? Don’t think so. It’s just corporate doublespeak–it sounds strangely comforting, but is a blatant lie.

I was one of the minions in Colorado Springs when Michael Capellas, who just signed on for $20 million as the new CEO of the corrupt & bankrupt Worldcom, inadvertently & prematurely announced that 1 of every 4 people in that room and across the company was going to be laid off within weeks and who, when asked about the value of the company’s stock in the stock options that had been dished out by executive decision in lieu of an actual pension of value, told us “They’ll be worth zero. Tough luck.”

It was then that we learned the authentic reality of American corporations–whether you get paid or not for your work is a matter of chance rather like playing roulette in Vegas. Whether you’ll get paid what you were told you’d get paid is almost literally a crapshoot. And a $20 million CEO doesn’t buy you someone who can keep a secret.

Oh, and the other authentic truth: stockholders don’t own a corporation–its bondholders own it. Which is why stockholders are tossed under the train when a corporation goes south, and bondholders become the new stockholders. The answer for the old stockholders: “Tough luck”. At least going to Vegas would have been more fun!