Companies in the United States and Canada have kicked off 2024 with thousands of job cuts across sectors, signaling that the spate of layoffs seen in 2023 could persist as they scramble to rein in costs.
While job cut announcements in the United States more than doubled month-on-month to 82,307 in January, they were down 20 per cent from a year earlier, according to a report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas earlier in February.
The technology sector, which accounted for the highest number of layoffs in 2023, has seen 34,000 job cuts in 141 firms so far this year, according to tracking website Layoffs.fyi.
Here is a snapshot of job cuts announced so far in 2024:
TECHNOLOGY
Amazon’s job cuts include less than five per cent of employees at Buy with Prime unit, five per cent at audiobook and podcast division Audible, several hundred in streaming and studio operations, 35 per cent at streaming unit Twitch and a few hundred at healthcare units One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy.
Layoffs at Alphabet include dozens at division for developing new technology X Lab, hundreds in advertising sales team, hundreds across teams, including hardware team responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit, and a majority in augmented reality team.
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Microsoft is cutting around 1,900 jobs at gaming divisions Activision Blizzard and Xbox.
IBM plans to lay off some employees in 2024, but will hire more for AI-centered roles.
E-commerce firm eBay plans to cut about 1,000 roles, or around nine per cent of its workforce.
Videogame software provider Unity Software to cut about 25 per cent of workforce, or 1,800 jobs.
DocuSign plans to reduce workforce by about six per cent, or 400 employees, with a majority in its sales and marketing organizations.
Snap plans to cut around 528 jobs, or 10 per cent of its global workforce.
Salesforce is laying off about 700 employees, or roughly one per cent of its global workforce.
Network giant Cisco is planning to restructure its business which will include laying off thousands of employees.
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Autonomous vehicle technology company Aurora Innovation lays off three per cent of workforce.
Paramount Global is planning to conduct unspecified number of layoffs.
Business Insider plans to lay off around eight per cent of its staff.
Bell Canada plans to slash 4,800 jobs.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
PayPal Holdings is planning to cut about 2,500 jobs, or nine per cent of its global workforce this year.
Payments firm Block Inc has started to cut unspecified jobs.
Citigroup is planning to reduce its headcount by 20,000 people over the next two years.
Investment banking giant Morgan Stanley is planning to cut hundreds of jobs in its wealth management unit, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that the cuts will impact less than one per cent of the division’s employees.
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Exchange operator Nasdaq plans to slash hundreds of jobs as it integrates fintech firm Adenza into its business.
Asset manager BlackRock is set to cut about three per cent of its workforce, but expects larger headcount by end-2024.
CONSUMER AND RETAIL
Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder plans to cut three to five per cent of its global workforce.
Wayfair plans to lay off 1,650 employees, or about 13 per cent of its workforce.
U.S. department store chain Macy’s is cutting 2,350 jobs, closing five stores.
Levi Strauss & Co. is planning to slash 10-to-15 per cent of global corporate jobs.
Hershey’s restructuring plan will impact less than five per cent of its workforce.
Nike will cut about two per cent of its total workforce, or more than 1,600 jobs, as the sportswear giant looks to cut costs after flagging weaker profits this year.
Novavax is cutting about 12 per cent of workforce.
MANUFACTURING
Defence contractor Lockheed Martin is planning to cut one per cent of its jobs.
United Parcel Service plans to cut 12,000 jobs to cut costs.
NATURAL RESOURCES
U.S. miner Piedmont Lithium cuts 27 per cent of workforce in cost-cutting plan.
Canadian oil and gas pipeline firm TC Energy has laid off some of its workers as part of a previously announced plan to integrate its natural gas pipeline units.
Canada-based crude pipeline operator Enbridge said it would reduce its workforce by 650 jobs, or five per cent, in a bid to cut costs.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
