More Lucky Duckies
Jan 17th, 2008 at 7:06 pm by Susie
Investment bank Lehman Brothers says it will cut 1,300 jobs as it scales back its US mortgage lending business.
The decision comes amid a slump in the US housing market and as banks report billions of dollars of losses related to investments in sub-prime mortgages.
It had already cut about 2,500 jobs last year after shutting its sub-prime mortgage unit that lent to borrowers with poor credit histories.
The bank will take a $40m charge as part of the plan.
General Motors Corp. will offer buyouts to more than half of its hourly workers as part of a plan to cut labor costs, Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said during a presentation to analysts this afternoon.
Wagoner said the automaker would offer buyouts to the nearly 46,000 hourly workers who are already eligible to retire as part of efforts to take advantage of its new cost-cutting labor contract with the UAW. GM currently employs about 73,000 hourly workers.
GM could cut labor costs both by reducing its workforce and replacing some of its workforce with lower-paid workers, which is possible through a clause in the new contract that allows the automaker to hire a second tier of workers into non-core jobs at a lower wage and benefits rate.
