Tribune Co. to slash 700 jobs

Tribune Co. is cutting 700 newspapers employees, or about 8 percent of its publishing workforce, as the Chicago-based media company restructures to centralize certain functions for the papers.

Tribune, which owns eight major dailies including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, will streamline advertising, marketing, manufacturing, distribution, human resources and digital strategy for its newspapers instead of having all of those functions for various publications spread across the country. Its making the move as it prepares to spin off the publishing division and focus on expanding its broadcast operations.

"Creating these critical efficiencies and ensuring the long-term strength of our mastheads will, unfortunately, result in the selective reduction of our publishing staff," Tribune CEO Peter Liguori said in a memo today.
Tribune had 8,487 full-time employees in its publishing division and 2,598 employees in its broadcast division, as of June 30, the company has said in financial documents.

Barclays plans to cut 1,700 jobs across the UK

Barclays is to cut 1,700 jobs from across its branch network in the UK, the bank has announced.

The cuts come as it scales back the number of branches across the country.

Barclays said in a statement that the way people accessed banking services was changing rapidly, with more using smart phones and other technology.

The bank has launched a voluntary redundancy scheme and said staff would be "fully consulted" and "have access to the support... they require."

Barclays has 1,577 branches employing 33,600 staff.

The Unite union, which represents some bank staff, said customer service could suffer as result of the cuts and said Barclays was making a "colossal mistake" .

'Service'

The jobs going are equivalent to one staff member per branch, Barclays said, and will involve a host of frontline roles including cashiers, personal bankers, operational specialists, and branch and assistant managers.

They will be rolled out through 2014.

Unite's national officer, Dominic Hook, said: "These employees deliver high levels of service that customers of the bank benefit from.

"Such a massive reduction will be very detrimental to the bank and will also be hugely challenging for the staff remaining."

The union said it would have "urgent" discussions with Barclays in an attempt to put forward alternative proposals.

Unite said it had already successfully argued with Barclays for training grants for staff leaving Barclays, and compensation for those who volunteer to reduce working hours.

Last week it was announced that around 600 jobs would be lost as a result of the closure of centres at Coventry and Dartford.

Earlier this month Barclays said it would close four branches and move staff and banking services to nearby Asda stores.

Lockheed Martin slashes 4,000 jobs

NEW YORK — Lockheed Martin said Thursday that it is cutting 4,000 jobs due to a slowdown in business due to less U.S. government spending on defense.

The defense contractor also said it was closing and consolidating several of its U.S. facilities in an effort to increase the efficiency of its operations and make its products more affordable.

"In the face of government budget cuts and an increasingly complex global security landscape, these actions are necessary for the future of out business," CEO Marillyn Hewson said in a statement.

Defense contractors have been hurt by across-the-board budget cuts, known as sequestration.

By mid-2015, Lockheed plans to close plants in Newtown, Pa.; Akron, Ohio; and Goodyear, Ariz. Those closings will result in 2,000 job losses. The other 2,000 positions being eliminated will be focused in the company's Information Systems & Global Solutions, Mission System and Training, and Space Systems businesses.

This is not the first wave of job cuts for Lockheed. Since 2008, in an effort to better align costs with revenue, the company has slashed its workforce by 30,000, from 146,000 employees to 116,000. The latest plant closing will bring the number of square feet taken out of production to 2.5 million since 2008, the company said.

As part of the consolidation, some Lockheed employees will be moved to other company locations.

Lockheed Martin had net sales of $47.2 billion in 2012. It stock is up nearly 50% this year.