torresd

The job cuts are another tough blow
to North Carolina, which is in a severe
budget crisis and is already assisting
5,600 workers who lost jobs when
textile maker Pillowtex shut down
at the end of July.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25940-2003Sep17.html
R.J. Reynolds to Cut 40 Pct. of Workers

By PAUL NOWELL
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 17, 2003; 6:15 PM


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -

In a massive restructuring designed to
retreat from stiff discount-brand competition,
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco on Wednesday
announced the elimination of 2,600 jobs,
about 40 percent of the company's work force.


Workers whose jobs are being eliminated
will be notified over the next week,
said Seth Moskowitz,
spokesman for the nation's
second-largest cigarette maker.

RJR said it will focus future spending on
premium brands Camel and Salem and
will only invest enough in the cheaper
Winston and Doral brands to try to
optimize profits.

The company plans to trim spending
$1 billion by the end of next year,
chairman and chief executive
Andrew Schindler said.

"Reynolds Tobacco is fundamentally changing
the way it operates its business in order to
deliver profit growth," Schindler said.

Wall Street applauded the move,
sending the company's shares soaring
by $4.67, or 13.7 percent, to close at
$38.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Between 1,600 and 1,700 of the job
losses will occur in the Winston-Salem area,
where RJR has its headquarters and a
massive factory in Tobaccoville.

The positions being cut are well-paid -
even factory workers at RJR typically
make more than $50,000 annually.

RJR warned of the impending cuts last month,
giving workers a chance to request that their
positions be considered for elimination.

But the size of the cuts still shocked locals.

Jimmy Watson, 68, who lives near the
Tobaccoville plant, shopped Wednesday
afternoon at B.J.'s Shoes in King.

"It's a real bad situation," he said.

"A lot of the workers still have a lot of
debt and I'm sure they figured they'd
be able to pay it off."

Moskowitz said Wednesday that 75
percent of the positions eliminated in
Winston-Salem were ones workers
had requested for consideration.

Of those workers, 90 percent will be
eligible for retirement health benefits
when their severance runs out, he said.

The company will pay all workers
whose jobs are eliminated between
13 and 78 weeks of base pay as severance,
with the total determined by length of service with RJR.

Employees who declined to give their names
when talking about the job cuts Wednesday
said they are required to sign a confidentiality
agreement that prevents them from discussing
information about the company with outsiders.

A worker at the Tobaccoville plant who
identified himself only by his first name,
Joe, smoked a Camel as he ate lunch
at the King Cafe before reporting for
his night shift Wednesday.

The 48-year-old said he had requested
severance from the company and expects to leave.

"I thought when I went to work here in 1980
that I'd put in my 30 years and then retire
and play with all my toys," he said.

"It didn't work out that way. That's OK."

He said he is worried about paying his
bills and did not know how he will replace
his lost income.

"There are real good paying jobs," he said.

"I don't like to brag, but the only people
here in town making more money than
I do are the lawyers and doctors and
illegal drug-runners."

The major American tobacco companies
have been hit hard by higher taxes,
settlement payments to state governments
for health costs of treating sick smokers
and competition from deep discount brands.

Danny Cole, 52, of King, grows 110 acres
of tobacco that he sells to RJR rival Phillip Morris.

Cole said Wednesday's announcement
demonstrates the ongoing decline of
tobacco in America.

"We're teetering and tottering and
don't know exactly what to do," Cole said.

RJR has had a particularly tough year,
slashing profit forecasts and surrendering
its title sponsorship of the Winston Cup
stock car racing circuit as the company
tried to trim costs.

Earlier this summer, published reports
speculated on a possible merger involving
R.J. Reynolds and British American Tobacco
PLC, the parent company of rival Brown &
Williamson Tobacco Corp.

Schindler insisted the job
eliminations are unrelated
to any merger.

"This has nothing to do at all with
any deals in the future whatsoever," he said.

Moskowitz said the restructuring gives
RJR a chance to focus on the Camel
and Salem brands.

Camel has been growing for more than
15 years and has spun off numerous niche
brands while Salem, as a menthol cigarette,
does not compete with Camel and was
recently repositioned with new branding.

"If we're going to narrow it down to
two brands to support, Camel is a
no-brainer," Moskowitz said,

while Salem offers

"a good opportunity to grow
both profit and share of market."

The job cuts are another tough blow
to North Carolina, which is in a severe
budget crisis and is already assisting
5,600 workers who lost jobs when
textile maker Pillowtex shut down
at the end of July.

lesoscar

And what has that got to do with Cuba ??
Agur,
Oscar