Layoffs and Downsizing

Appeals Court Publishes Costa Mesa Ruling That Bans Cities From Outsourcing Jobs

A three-judge Fourth District Court of Appeals panel has published a ruling that prohibits general law cities in California from laying off city workers by outsourcing their jobs to private sector companies. The ruling, which was issued Aug. 17, prevented the city of Costa Mesa from laying off 200 e ... More >>

Mop Jock

[Hey, You!] Gym etiquette for meatheads

Blizzard To Lay Off 600 Employees

​Blizzard Entertainment, maker of the mammoth online game "World of Warcraft," is laying off about 600 workers from its global operation. About ninety percent of the jobs being cut are not related to game development, and the "World of Warcraft" development team will not be impacted. (And hopefull ... More >>

[UPDATED with Santa Ana Hypocrisy?] "Bain" of Mitt Romney's Existence: Shitty Stewardship of Anaheim Company

​UPDATE, JAN. 13, 10:42 A.M.: Even those who question Mitt Romney's commitment to conservatism would agree that, when it comes to business, he has steadfastly advocated in public speeches that government must get out of the way so they can flourish. But now, a second Orange County connection to Ro ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

It's Gotten Costa Messy In Costa Mesa

Scenes from the civic dissolution of America's latest public-employee battleground

[UPDATED with Judge Issues Written Order, City Gets It Now:] Judge Blocks Costa Mesa Layoffs Until Civil Trial

​UPDATE, JULY 18, 4:49 P.M.: Though she made her ruling two weeks ago, Orange County Superior Court Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann issued the written order blocking the city of Costa Mesa from laying off employees and privatizing their jobs late Friday night.The written order just added fuel to the nev ... More >>

This Elephant Never Remembers

[Hey, You!] Trunk off, GOP push-pollster!

Costa Mesa Layoffs May Not Happen As Soon As Anticipated, Judge Tells City To Wait For Civil Trial

​Finally, the Costa Mesa employees who got layoff notices earlier this year have caught a break--or at least a reprieve. Joseph Serna of The Daily Pilot reports that an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled today that the city cannot lay off employees and outsource their jobs to private co ... More >>

[UPDATED: Police Chief Uncertain of Cocaine Involvement] City Employee Commits Suicide, Jumping Off Costa Mesa City Hall

Christopher Victorio/OC WeeklyHuy Pham, in a photo brought to a candlelight vigil for him​UPDATE, MAY 31, 8:16 A.M.: Costa Mesa's police chief, Steve Staveley isn't entirely convinced by the conclusions being made from the coroner reports that Huy Pham had cocaine in his system at the time of his ... More >>

Costa Mesa Fires City Workers While City Leaders Get Free Lunch

​Yesterday, lawyers for the Orange County Employees Association (OCEA) filed a complaint in Orange County Superior Court, asking a judge to stop Costa Mesa's city council from firing 100 city employees. The complaint, which names Thomas Hatch, the city's chief executive officer, as a defendant, al ... More >>

Newport Beach is So Trying to be the Next Costa Mesa: Considering Layoffs, Including Lifeguards

​Newport Beach sits just to the south/southeast west of the oh-so-troubled city of Costa Mesa. It's a city full of pretty people and prettier cars. It has 10 miles of coastline. Its population is 90-plus percent white and the median value of a home is said to exceed $1 million. And yet, just like ... More >>

Boeing Cuts 900 Jobs in Long Beach, But OC Workers Also Get Bad News

​Boeing's announcement that it is eliminating 900 jobs in Long Beach is getting the big headlines today, but the once-mighty aerospace company also dropped some bad employment news for Orange County.

Michael Jackson's Ghost Spooks Propofol Maker Teva

​The worldwide scorn directed at those closest to Michael Jackson in his final days may have extended to the drug Propofol and its Irvine-based maker, which announced it is laying off 200 employees this year after having already let go 70 workers.Teva Pharmaceuticals maintains it already discontin ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Port's Marine Clerks Strike

​UPDATE: As feared, unionized marine clerks working at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach went on strike early today (updates throughout) . . . Unionized marine clerks working at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach went on strike just minutes after their contract with a consortium of 14 ... More >>

Workers Rally to Save Jobs of Live Emergency Dispatchers

​Before this evening's Santa Ana City Council meeting, union workers will stage a rally in front of City Hall to draw attention to layoffs they claim will lead to 9-1-1 emergency calls being answered by an electronic menu rather than a live dispatcher.

Criminal Defense of the Day: "I'm An Unemployed Wine Taster"

Lil Erna / Flickr / Creative Commons​Imagine you're a vagrant wino (in these times, not hard to imagine). You get picked up by Newport Beach police. How to explain the stink on the breath... the unwashed clothes... the sad look in your eyes?From Corona Del Mar Today:Two transient men were arrested ... More >>

Healthcare Workers to Protest Job Cuts at Kaiser Orange County

Coming to Anaheim Thursday.​Kaiser Permanente employees will picket outside the Kaiser Orange County facility Thursday to protest the health behemoth's plans to slash 1,350 jobs in coming months.Kaiser workers in purple shirts are scheduled to chant, carry signs and speak with patients about the e ... More >>

Cop Union To Sue OC Prosecutor Tony Rackauckas

Union Boss Quint Unhappy With Rackauckas​The union representing investigators in the district attorney's office, notified county officials this morning that it will file a lawsuit tomorrow in federal court to block District Attorney Tony Rackauckas' plan to implement a temporary layoff plan as a w ... More >>

Layoffs and Furloughs Soon To Hit OC Prosecutors & Investigators

Tight times at the DA's office​Folks aren't buying products and services like they used to and the impact of dwindling government sales tax revenues is about to be felt hard inside the local agency charged with putting criminals in prison. In an interview this morning, District Attorney Tony Ra ... More >>

Entrepreneur Magazine Editorial Staff "Decimated"

If you believe it is the entrepreneurs who are going to save this shitty economy, close your eyes. Fishbowl LA has the scoop on Irvine-based Entrepreneur Magazine and Entrepreneur.com "decimating" their editorial staff this week. We hear from former employees that the layoffs include the executiv ... More >>

Pissed-Off Teachers Can Really Stop Traffic

California law mandates that school districts notify teachers and administrators about possible layoffs for the following school year by a certain date. This year's deadline is Sunday and, facing uncertain financial futures, many districts are issuing pink slips. Once the numbers are crunched, many ... More >>

LA Times Cuts California Section

The Los Angeles Times plans to lay off even more employees with the recent decision to rid the local news section. California news will now be folded in the front section alongside national and foreign news.Quoted from a memo sent by publisher Eddy Hartenstein:"In the coming weeks, we will introduce ... More >>

The Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm

Discovery Center

OC Weekly Not Alone; Village Voice Media Cuts Widespread

As editor Ted B. Kissell's "A Bad Week at the Weekly" post about layoffs at OC Weekly continued (and is continuing) to generate comments, newsroom staffers received a memo about the matter this week from our Village Voice Media overlords. Now, before I reveal what was in the memo, let me itera ... More >>

Daily Grill Execs to Take 10% Pay Cut

Here's somewhat encouraging news in discouraging times. Although "at least eight people were laid off this year from the company's office in Woodland Hills", according to an article in the LA Times, about a dozen Daily Grill executives -- whose annual salaries range from $100,000 to $350,000 -- are ... More >>

Times OC Takes Another Big Hit

Los Angeles Times management has laid off two more veteran reporters in its already-decimated Orange County bureau, according to Times sources. The latest to leave will be Gil Reza and Christian Berthelsen, two outstanding veterans with long lists of accomplishments. Amazingly, the Times OC edito ... More >>

Goodbye Tony D. ... and the Pilot, too?

Sad news about a really good guy, Tony Dodero: the former editor-in-chief of the Newport Beach/Costa Mesa Daily Pilot is being let go as the director of news and online for L.A. Times Community News publications, which include the Pilot, Huntington Beach Independent and Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot ... More >>

"Confusion" at Register over buyouts

"Breaking" news in its "Newspaper Deathwatch" category: Media Bistro reports Orange County Register employees are unsure whether to take the buyout currently being offered or risk having future buyout offers lowered: Nervous staffers at the Orange County Register had been considered asking for vol ... More >>

Monday Night Football at The Pelican Grill? Whaaa?

The Pelican Grill at the Pelican Hill Resort is the last place I would think of when it comes to Monday Night Football. After all, this is a valet-parking, ocean-views, uniformed-waiter, white-table-cloth kind of establishment, where the customers are the country-club types, not the average Joe Six ... More >>

OC Register to Lay Off 30 Newsroom Employees

Just received word from an anonymous but reliable source that the Register is going to announce the elimination of 30 newsroom positions tomorrow. The paper is hoping to avoid direct layoffs by getting volunteers. Stay tuned for updates on who jumps the ship(wreck).* *Update #1: Apparently, Freedo ... More >>

Times OC Loses Three More Vets

LAobserved.com is reporting on the latest round of forced/voluntary retirements at the Los Angeles Times and noted that the Orange County bureau will lose Bill Lobdell. Lobdell has served the Times in numerous capacities, including as editor of the Daily Pilot, which covers Newport Beach and Costa ... More >>

Santa Ana School Employees Steaming at Sneaky District Turning Full-Time Jobs Into Part-Time Ones

Times About to Lay Off 250 Employees

Apparently trying to compete with the Orange County Register for worst place to work on the planet, the Los Angeles Times is about to lay off 250 people, including 150 newsroom employees, according to a source who, for the time being at least, still actually works at the paper. There's been rumors ... More >>

OC Reg Will Outsource to New Delhi

Late yesterday the AP confirmed news that Nick Schou broke last week right here on our blog: the paper has taken the layoff model to another level and will now outsource some of its editing and layout duties to a "global media" company near New Delhi. With the last round of layoffs knocking 90 pe ... More >>

OC Register Laying off Five Percent of Workforce

It's never fun being right about this kind of thing, but apparently the OC Register is laying off 80 to 90 employees, according to a post today on the newspaper's website. Here's about half of the post (it's really short): "... [Publisher Terry] Horne cited Orange County’s sluggish economy, es ... More >>

The Content-Sharing Deal Between the OC Register and MediaNews Hasn't Led to Cuts at the Reg (Yet)

OC Register Death Watch Part Two

Last week, I reported that the Orange County Register is in secret talks with Dean Singleton, owner of the Denver-based MediaNews Inc. and an all-around Darth Vader of daily news--he bought and all but killed the Long Beach Press Telegram, just as one example--to share content and lay off writers. I ... More >>

The Register in talks with MediaNews about sharing content

The future of journalism is now! And the future is sexy, illiterate and cost-cutting.

Today came the announcement of two major developments in the world of Southland journalism. One announcement is superbad and the other superfresh awesome. So which do you want first? Well, the good's so good, you'll probably forget the bad so long as you hear the good last, so here's the bad. Deep b ... More >>

A SCOWL in the Night: Anonymous Poet Bemoans the Self-Inflicted Demise of the OC Register

This week, an anonymous source sent the Weekly a poem called "Scowl," which appears to be a riff on Allen Ginsberg's famous and similarly-titled manifesto of 1950s beatnik angst, "Howl." The poem also appears to be written by someone intimately familiar with the inner workings of the Orange County R ... More >>

My Favorite Sex Offender

The AP wires are humming today with news that Brian Doyle, former deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, has been sentenced. Doyle was caught sending sexually explicit messages to Sheriff's deputies posing as a 14-year-old girl named Ashlynne, for which he has been sentenced ... More >>

Register One Step From Layoffs

To prevent layoffs on the heels of a sharp decline in advertising revenue, Freedom Communications--the parent company of The Orange County Register--today offered voluntary severance packages to employees, according to sources. "If not enough people opt out, then there will be layoffs," a veteran o ... More >>

These Jeans Are a Steal

Mexican factory workers say they work all dayliterallyto keep you in Wet Seal jeans

Million-Dollar Munchikins

How a councilwomans taxpayer-funded multiple childbirth complicated HBs budget crisis

Involuntary Separation

41 Reg pressmen lose jobs before union vote

Mouse Chow

Disney execs collect big checks while low-wage workers collect free food

Moss Appeal

Mossimo hits Target, cheapskates go nuts!

Out In the Cold

The countys plan to privitize preschools was supposed to cut costs, not teachers

A Big Disaster

Irvine high-tech firm snuffs extreme-sports' Bluetorch.com