Layoff City

I like Elliot's phrase so I am stealing it for the title.

Circuit City deserves it for its move to fire 3,4000 of their most experienced sales staff so they can re-hire low-wage workers. Sure, the fired employees can re-apply for their jobs after 10 weeks, but at the minimum wage. 621 of them are Californians. These new hires don't need to have any sales experience. I am sure that will do wonders for customer service. From the LADN:

The cuts will boost Circuit City's short-term outlook but could kill the stores in the long term if new hires don't offer the same level of customer service, said Jack Kyser, vice president and chief economist at Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

"At the end of the day, it's still the interaction between somebody on the selling floor and the customer," Kyser said. "If there's not a reason to come back because of bad service, that's the kiss of death."

Look what it is already doing for employee morale for those who are left:

Timing of the layoffs, two weeks before performance reviews that often come with pay raises, spooked a Circuit City employee who was not laid off and earns $10.50 an hour. He refused to give his name because of a policy that employees not speak to the media.

"You're going to walk in the (manager's) door, and for the first time you're going to say I don't want a raise," he said. "If you take the raise, will you lose your job?"

Is that their strategy? Scare the pants off of those who are left so they don't have to even give them raises?

Rep. George Miller, the chair of the House Education and Labor Committee issued a press release today on the subject:

Let's get one thing straight: The workers fired by Circuit City were not overpaid. According to the Washington Post, one worker who lost his job was making roughly $12 per hour. A full-time worker making $12 per hour would earn about $24,000 a year. That's barely enough to pay the bills.

Meanwhile, Circuit City's six top executive officers brought home a total of roughly $16 million in salaries and bonuses from 2004 to 2006. Clearly, workers who had been loyal to the company for years and who earned $12 per hour were not the ones who were overpaid. Circuit City's actions are reprehensible. Loyal workers who devote years of service to a company deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

You know...I really need to get a printer cartridge tonight. Guess where I am not going?