Thursday, November 13, 2008

More Good Jobs Evaporate -- DHL Closing American Operations?

crossposted 10 Nov 2008 at firedoglake

No more DHL in the US?

Frankfurter Allgemeine reports DHL is eliminating 40,000 jobs, including potentially everything they have in the US.

For you Deutsch sprechers:

Appel wird nicht anders können, als einen massiven Stellenabbau zu verkünden: 40.000 Jobs in dem verlustreichen Bereich sind akut bedroht; 20 000 bei der Post direkt, noch mal so viele bei ihren amerikanischen Partnern.

Roughly -- 20,000 jobs direct, and another 20,000 by American partners. [h/t to Calculated Risk commenter HJ for this, you paid better attention in high school German than I did.]

Not a math expert, but to me this sounds like they're closing their entire US operations. Financial Times gives it to us gently, saying

Deutsche Post is poised to reveal bigger cuts than expected to its troubled DHL US express deliveries service today after the rapid economic downturn complicated efforts to restructure the lossmaking business.

[snip]

DHL intended to become a third significant force in the US market but failed to break up the de facto duopoly enjoyed by UPS and FedEx. The company employs about 18,000 in its US express business.

Well, folks, if they employ 18,000 -- including 8,000 in one small Ohio town destined for doom, and they're laying off "about 20,000", doesn't that mean they're closing up shop?

McCain had his hand in this:

"Those jobs are on the chopping block because Sen. McCain and his campaign were involved in a deal that resulted in control of those positions being shifted to a foreign corporation, and there's no getting around that," said Joe Rugola, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO.

And truth in advertising, I'm from a small town in Ohio, and the losses from having these jobs disappear will show on faces much like those in my family. We sent all the money in the world to Wall Street and the Iraq war profiteers, and there's nothing left for average folks in the small towns of the nation.

We are watching our inner nation bleed to death economically. Will Obama's team stop the hemorrhage?

No comments: