The ax falls

On Tuesday the company held their promised town-hall meeting. And yes, they are going ahead with the move, forthwith, relocating 250 positions out of town this year and 500 more over the next two years. Now it's real.

In the three-and-a-half months since they dropped their bombshell last November, announcing they "were reviewing" these 700 jobs, I think people were starting to relax. One, you can't keep up that flurry of anxiety and uncertainty for such a long time. We said all there was to say, and no additional information was forthcoming.

Then, two, the financial indicators took such a sharp turn south: the company's stock prices, oil prices in general, the whole global economy (perhaps you heard about that). About a month ago, the CEO announced the company would be laying off 1300 jobs across their global operations.

You can't push through a project as expensive as this move will be, people said, when you're forced into layoffs. Sure, they'll move us, but after a while, maybe two or three years, when the economy picks up. As if to confirm this line of reasoning, the company postponed their follow-up announcement, originally scheduled for the end of January, claiming they had to recalculate given recent economic developments. See? everyone said.

Apparently the economics made the move even more urgent. I'm not sure how, that's just what they said in the meeting. The first wave of 250 will move during the second quarter of this year. Doesn't the second quarter run from April to June?

In all our well reasoned speculation, we didn't know that the company had taken a write-down on their facilities here. From what I understand, that means the company removed all these buildings from the assets on their balance sheets and taxes, listing their worth as zero. So apparently they're legally obligated to stop using the facilities, and maybe demolish them.

The town-hall meeting wasn't really open to the whole town, just the employees. But even so, it was hot. The employees didn't need spouses or anyone else to ask tough questions or express anger.

Part of the anger came because the company didn't offer options--no voluntary buy-outs, severance packages, or early retirements. No matter what your situation, you move or resign. Period. Another source of the anger was the perception around here that the so-called merger was actually a hostile take-over by a company that despises this company and this town. Much like in-state rivals in college football. Uchenna says it was a good thing the meeting wasn't held outside, or some people might have started throwing rocks at that Sr. VP.

Anyway, we're not moving with this first wave. We wouldn't mind, though. It's better to just get it over with, and it's not like we have roots here. The initial 250 will be those who only have to move offices, not labs and pilot plants, which take much more time and money to set up. We'll stick around for another year or two, witnessing the further decline of the town. Out of 700, 250 doesn't sound like much, but the bulk of company employees in our ward fall into that group. Nuts. Uchenna worries that he'll be the one turning out the lights and locking the door behind him.