Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Most families don't comprehend layoffs until it happens to them
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Tuesday, November 2, 2004 | Anne Michaud

Posted on 11/02/2004 8:38:08 AM PST by Willie Green

I ran into a relative at a wedding this weekend. We hadn't seen each other since the last family wedding, three years ago. I asked how her daughter was doing, and this story came pouring out.

Her daughter's husband was laid off in July from a company where he had worked for 28 years. He will miss out on his pension and faces job-hunting now at age 52. His wife is working 50 hours a week and fears making any missteps at her job because she is now carrying the family's health insurance. He's depressed and is a scatterbrained substitute mom to their two busy teenagers.

This is a sad story, to be sure, but a common one. Three years ago, when I last saw this relative, my husband was out of work. At that time, she asked, "Can't he just take another job? Oh, well, I guess he can't accept just anything."

I didn't go into sad detail with her back then. I don't like to retail my misery -- unless, of course, I can do so in the pages of a newspaper and get paid for it.

(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: despair; eeyore; employment; families; globalism; grapesofwrath; joebtfsplk; killmenow; miseryindex; outsourcing; repenttheendisnigh; sackclothandashes; stagflation; suicidesolution; thebusheconomy; wearedoomed
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 221-238 next last
To: Willie Green

Oh.....My.....God. Some guy got laid off. Bush has got to go.

28 years and no vested pension? Maybe he should have done a 401k. My projected 401k after 28 years is in excess of a million dollars.


21 posted on 11/02/2004 8:51:42 AM PST by L98Fiero
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: finnman69

Most people don't get the joke, and I hope they never have to. <<<


I never heard the lay off joke during Reagans years in office, but I personally heard that Joke TWICE during clintons admin. With the Bush Admin., I not only did not hear the joke, I get to keep more of my earned money.


22 posted on 11/02/2004 8:52:36 AM PST by hushpad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: I still care

sure, fine.

But we are doing our fellow americans a dis-service if we think that there aren't some massive dislocations going on in the job market out there, and that people aren't hurting. because there are, believe me. and this is one area where Bush, in a second term, has to do better. the private sector middle class is the core of the republican party.


23 posted on 11/02/2004 8:52:38 AM PST by oceanview
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: finnman69
The resident FR Bush hater rears his head on Elecion Day.

As you well know, I disagree with the economic policies of BOTH globalist candidates. Neither one has the best interests of the American Middle Class at the top of their priority list.

24 posted on 11/02/2004 8:53:06 AM PST by Willie Green (Hawkins/Tonnelson in 2004!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Willie Green
Thanks Willie for strengthening my resolve to volunteering 2 more hours today in offering rides to the polls.You are a great motivator!
25 posted on 11/02/2004 8:53:20 AM PST by afnamvet (Tuy Hoa AB RVN 68-69 Jet Noise...The Sound of Freedom!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: finnman69
From the article....The layoff was hard on our marriage. I started to wonder whether my husband really was a loser, as the job market would have had us believe.

What a horrible person. My wife has been laid off, and a thought like "My wife is a loser" would never cross my mind. How can anyone believe the author, after they make a statement like this?

26 posted on 11/02/2004 8:54:15 AM PST by wbill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: shellcracker

"Well then explain why someone who has a good work record and attendance record should be laid off just to make his employer more money or improve his stock rating."

If laying you off saves an employer money, you evidently weren't contributing much to the business, now were you?


27 posted on 11/02/2004 8:54:26 AM PST by L98Fiero
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: oceanview

I don't remember the exact timing, except that to get a pension you needed 20 years. And I remember the house operator (who had been around a long time, and was privy to all the businessplace gossip) telling him they had a history of firing people just before they became eligible for the full pension - so to be careful and look out.

I left at that time, but going back a few months later to visit, sure enough people told me he had indeed been "let go".


28 posted on 11/02/2004 8:54:31 AM PST by I still care (America is not the problem - it is the solution..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

Comment #29 Removed by Moderator

To: Willie Green

Give it a rest.


30 posted on 11/02/2004 8:54:47 AM PST by Max Combined (I gave back, I can't remember, six, seven, eight, nine...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

To: Willie Green
Her daughter's husband was laid off in July from a company where he had worked for 28 years. He will miss out on his pension and faces job-hunting now at age 52.

Wow! What happened? Did Bush outsource this guys pension to the northern alliance warlords in Afghanistan?

32 posted on 11/02/2004 8:56:14 AM PST by VRWCmember (Although rare, elections lasting longer than 4 weeks require immediate legal attention.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Willie Green

My two cents: The jobs that are going or gone are not coming back, no matter who wins. This is what happened when the smokestack jobs left in the 80s and it's happening now with the outsourcing of jobs to the third world. It's not fair and it's not nice, but it really is the way things are at this point in our history.


33 posted on 11/02/2004 8:56:39 AM PST by durasell (Friends are so alarming, My lover's never charming...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

Comment #34 Removed by Moderator

To: shellcracker

"SAVING money and making more money are not the same thing."

A penny saved is a penny earned.


35 posted on 11/02/2004 8:57:46 AM PST by L98Fiero
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: shellcracker

I'm not saying it is fair. I'm just saying this is the way it is.

One of my mother's favorite sayings - Life isn't fair.


36 posted on 11/02/2004 8:57:55 AM PST by I still care (America is not the problem - it is the solution..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: durasell

They're hiring in Mexico, Willie. Good luck on your job search.


37 posted on 11/02/2004 8:58:05 AM PST by Elvis van Foster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

Comment #38 Removed by Moderator

To: shellcracker

I was kidding. Layoffs should never be illegal. Such a law would communist.


39 posted on 11/02/2004 8:59:23 AM PST by wideawake (God bless our brave soldiers and their Commander in Chief)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: I still care

it depends on the rules in that particular company. all I am saying now, is that with the family/medical leave act in place, in most cases, if you get within one year of eligibility, you can take leave to cover the gap.


40 posted on 11/02/2004 8:59:35 AM PST by oceanview
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 221-238 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson