Are We Still in a Recession?

Downsizing, the recession and the economy

The article in the Globe and Mail published April 15, 2010, titled "Was Canada's recession 'average'?" implies that the great recession in Canada has been over for awhile citing the 2008-2009 recession was shorter and less severe than in other G7 nations.

Unfortunately, in the manufacturing sector in Ontario, it seems the economic crisis is still in full swing. Here is my timeline to 2012...

September 2010: Yesterday, nine people voluntarily retired with a package from my company... at the request of management. Everyone was aware that someone would leave and the company was glad that there were takers, but I can’t say the effect was the same for the existing employees.

For weeks, we had speculated on who would take the package. The company had wanted higher paid senior people who had years of seniority to leave. Why? It seems they had too many people qualified to do duplicate jobs and when a slowdown happened they were paying these persons high wages to do a low end job and laying off the low paid workers as part of company policy.

Downsizing has been happening in my company since 2006. It appeared to be random at first. My immediate supervisor was let go one fine day out of the blue. The company fortunes have been dwindling. A sister company went bankrupt, during those two years that followed, but we managed to hang on somehow.

What is troubling about the latest downsizing is that one of the employees had worked there since she was 19, a total short of 43 years. According to everyone that knew her, she was one of the most devoted company people you could know. They asked her to leave.

The employee in question was a tireless worker…one who never sat idle and would be seen returning to her station to tidy up before her breaks were finished. So if the company did not value this one stellar employee, it begs the question, what about the rest of us? It appears her long tenure went against her.

Some are more secure financially than others. Some are embarking on a new path in life. We all tried to look at this in a positive light as we bid them good-bye. The sadness, no matter how we try, will seep through our days until we adjust to a smaller workforce and the loss of familiar faces amongst us.

In the meantime, the company is renovating to create more efficient manufacturing. The hope is our sales force will manage to land a lucrative contract, but while there seem to be constant news of deals that are promising, they all seem to dry up and evaporate.

Manufacturing in Ontario has taken a huge loss in the recession. Companies have gone back to their country of origin. Others have taken manufacturing back in-house because they want to keep their own workforce employed. Products from China have taken more business away. Has manufacturing in Ontario changed permanently? The pressure is to manufacture quality products with very small profit margins. While companies try to cut expenses, employees are faced with downsizing and remaining employees remain wary of what is still down the road.

So we all go to work next week knowing that we have lost employees but also about ten more persons have been asked to take their remaining vacations next week. One of them had no money to repair a water pump in his vehicle and his wife had just been downsized. The mood can not be jovial. We will grimly go about our jobs, grateful for each passing week and wondering if knowing would be better than this constant anticipation and doubt…but then again, that pay check is still welcome!

January 2011:

I wrote the original of this several months ago. The company hasn't turned around yet from the recession, though there is talk of some big contracts that are yet to be finalized. So there is hope. Somewhere on the horizon, looms a turn around; though I am not holding my breath.

April 2011... The company looks like they are expanding. Some new equipment has been bought and more equipment is being acquired. The only drawback is that the stories change from day-to-day....no one is certain what is true until something actually materializes.

It seems like the company is about to break out of the recession soon. While there has been no increase in wages, there have been expanded hours and more employees are feeling optimistic. There is even talk of continental shifts and with it the company going on to a 24/7 schedule. Interesting. Time will tell.

As for me, I gave my notice and experienced my last day at the end of April. I plan to move up north to my family home which I inherited years ago and have never been able to live in. I have carefully thought out my plan and hope to change my life for the better by moving to a less crowded area and finding shorter hours of work...or at least less commuting time! It feels like a bold move at the moment, but I think time will prove that it was the correct decision. As for the company, I will keep in touch with the employees so I will know where the plans went. l am ever grateful for my employment there; it turned my life around, so the company will always be in my fond memories!

I read in the news that Canadians are very pessimistic about the economy. It isn't a wonder with the cost of living rising, while wages are frozen or worse, cut. The proof is in the pudding. The powers that be, keep saying there is no Recession.

What exactly do they mean when the standard of living is dropping? The coffers of companies are improving, I suppose, but is that any real indication of progress? Our buying power has diminished and that will effect the bottom line of the big companies eventually.

Here is hoping for improvements to the bottom line of "Joe everbody"; not just corporations! Then we will believe there is no Recession!