the reason tht manufactuing workers at beckman coulter
unionised is simple,too scared and to stupid,cretins all.

there is no union at Beckman ...
sincelry mr. stupid in BCI manufactuing

when did beckman get a union?????

the reason tht manufactuing workers at beckman coulter
unionised is simple,too scared and to stupid,cretins all.

Are there going to be layoffs in Miami for 2010? What is the working atmosphere like in Miami at BCI?

Just highly paid professional cheerleaders, ..passing through. Pop up somewhere else later with a "plan" and a "goal" and an exit strategy. !!!! Think they are any different anywhere else,?? any different from the bankers, mortgagers and brokers?? NOT!!!

Brutal year; any news whether the Oct 17th round (another 29 layoffs Brea/Fullerton) is it for 2009? More monthly rounds scheduled for 2010 without 60 day advance notices? Will separation package change in 2010?

Now Scotty is whining about the 40 billion the Gov
will charge the medical device industry. But didn't
hesitate laying off thousands.

PAYBACK is a B....!

And the cutbacks are expanding. People in Indy are starting to get the axe. I was let go this week. Last week another supervisor was let go. There are rumors that some of the people who moved from California are getting to the end of their one year requirement to get the money to come to Indy. Some whose homes have not sold in CA are going back home.
For those that think Beckman is such a good company have not been visited with the the Lean Six Sigma gastapo. Reduce waste ie, reduce inventory, people, and plants.

WOW -- 32% increase in profits -- fantastic (oh well what's a 5% reduction in revenue). 10,000 employees -- knock-off 2% of the employees/year:

The math is perfect -- every year you knock-off 2% of the most senior (by years and benefits) employees. The revenue goes down but the profit goes up. Scotty makes his bonus!!!! That's all that matters!!!

In the first year you save 32 million for 200 employees.

When the market decides to dump Beckman -- no problem Scotty's out of there (along with his evil money grubing staff -- RC!)
They will move on with golden retirements and unimaginable wealth.

Year Employees 2% Savings ($mill)
2009 10,000 200 32,000.0
2010 9,800 196 31,360.0
2011 9,604 192 30,732.8
2012 9,412 188 30,118.1
2013 9,224 184 29,515.8
2014 9,039 181 28,925.5
2015 8,858 177 28,347.0
2016 8,681 174 27,780.0
2017 8,508 170 27,224.4
2018 8,337 167 26,679.9
2019 8,171 163 26,146.3
2020 8,007 160 25,623.4
2021 7,847 157 25,110.9

Scott Garrett
Compensation for 2008
Total Compensation $8,202,631.00
Salary $915,569.00
All other compensation $156,861.00
Option awards $ $3,328,873.00
Non-equity incentive plan compensation $690,000.00
Change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings $14,507.00
Total Compensation $8,202,631.00

A brilliant plan!

I just read today that Beckman had a 32% increase in profits in Q2, mainly due to "cost cutting", which means layoffs. Can a company shrink its way to prosperity?

"Is this a legal issue? If so, shouldn't someone notify the USDOL, the Florida DOL or the CDOL?"

WARN is a joke. All Beckman has to do is make cuts of less than 50 to keep under the radar. They are well aware of the law. In some states the fine is only $50. Other states admit they have significant WARN violations but they do not have staffing to enforce the law.

"Take Notice that the Beckman Coulter 2009 layoffs are not triggering the State Employment Development Department Warn (Workers Act Retraining Notification) Notices in Florida or California."

Is this a legal issue? If so, shouldn't someone notify the USDOL, the Florida DOL or the CDOL?

Does anyone know how many employees Beckman has laid off in 2009? From which locations and departments are people being cut?

Is Beckman also cutting positions since the merger with Olympus took place, this week?

I Agree. I wish they'd go out of business. They deserve that much.

I just wish the company would go out of business once and forall so everyone would move on

Supported Chemistry systems

The 38 laid off from SCM and QA were they supporting chemsitry systems business center or were they all across the different business centers?

38 laid off in Brea SCM/QA in May.

Beckman has always cried, "POVERTY" when it comes to taking care of their workers. However, they have plenty of $ to buy new companies over and over again. They also have a record # of high level managers/executives buddy staff pulling in crushy bonuses and salaries. That has to stop.

"Long-term, over age 50 employees were simply tossed out."

I always felt that BEC layoffs were discriminatory being heavily weighed to long-term employees especially those over age 50. Today I came across a statistic that supports my theory. On LinkedIn they have company summaries. The average age of Beckman employees with profiles on LinkedIn is 36. Bet it was much higher five years ago.

Who could that be? Carlsbad Techops hasn't had a layoff since early 2006.

She hasn't been laid off but must really hate it there. All I know is we interviewed her a few weeks ago for a lower level job than she has at BCI. Way over qualified.

Who could that be? Carlsbad Techops hasn't had a layoff since early 2006.

I work at a different company. We just got a resume from someone I know who went to Carlsbad as a sr tech ops scientist in 2006. She's a very talented and experienced PhD. BCI must have hit hard times indeed to lay her off.

Yes, layoff longterm dedicated quality employees while simulatneously cutting benefits to "the common man" --- but make sure to jack up the C-level bonuses, stock options, and salary.
These guys stink --

"Terms such as "unfair dismissal" are fairly subjective""
Im sure that the guy thats fired for sleeping at his desk thinks its unfair. What your describing is constructive dismissal which is very different. The people doing it know that there are laws about this so they really dont want you to follow up on it. Since they cant legally stop you there is a lot of manipulation. Isolation, intimidation, humiliation, fear, guilt, shame all so that you will just sign the paper without reading it and go. I guarantee you that a lot of people recognized that description down below of how it works and thought they were the only one that happened to. Cant do anything about it? If the first 5 or 6 people they pulled this on didnt hide but talked to other people, then went into there final interview and looked the hr person right in the eye, took notes, called them on it when they lied, went through their file and pointed out the sudden change and when it happened, then took the release form to a lawyer for review to "see of anything Constructive can come out of this Dismissal" they would have at least been offered a decent severance. And would have changed things for the people that were left. Even in an at will state you have some rights hr just really dont want you to use them and they have no problem with messing with your head. It only works if you think it is just you or that it has anything to do with your performance.

Terms such as "unfair dismissal" are fairly subjective. Beckman
takes full advantage of Ca's "at will" employment laws to rid
themselves of employees they no longer want, with or without a
severance package. The new trend seems to be giving long term
employees poor reviews, followed by a performance improvement plan
followed by termination. This is a way for them to reduce the amount of "layoff" packages paid, and deny unemployment benefits. They have hired in many managers from outside the company over the past several years, who have no qualms about doing this. I know because I worked for one of them and became a corresponding casualty. It's your manager's assessment of your performance vs. your own. Who do you think is gonna win that one?

"If someone got an unfair dismissal it should be addressed. There are plenty of lawyers ready to take on BCI regardless of how big their legal dept is."

It's difficult to get attorneys to take cases when the ex-employee has signed a release. Employees are forced to sign releases to provide food, shelter and medical insurance for their families. Someday it WILL happen to you and then your attitude and values will change.

SG came to BEC with his R4G magic show. He failed at Baxter and in time will fail at BEC as well.

Marginal employees should have been counseled and terminated if performance did not improve. Managers who could not or did not know how to counsel employees should not be managers. That did not happen. The good old boys club school of management prevailed. Long-term, over age 50 employees were simply tossed out. Whole departments were disbanded. Now those functions are contracted out to vendors (sometimes not even in this country) who do not always provide a quality or timely product and could care less if BEC succeeds.

R4G has taken a heavy toll on BEC. Morale is down, productivity is down, customer service is down, innovation is gone. Now SG accomplishes innovation by acquiring other firms. That will not work forever, he does not have an unlimited bank account. BEC is starting to struggle to fill positions key to future success. Applicants do not want the heartburn. IVD knowledge does not grow on trees. BEC burned some bridges and it will impact them down the road.

Things will change. The G-20 Summit is promoting restraining executive salaries. We have a new President, new congress, new justice department and the FDA will see significant change. Hopefully my kids will not have to work for employers like BEC.

I take your point re ad hominem. I guess your comment that I am bad at comprehension leans towards that too.

So let me try to answer your point that it is wrong to have layoffs when a company makes sales and profits. BCI is a medium size company with about 10,000 employees. Not all parts of the company did well, and some parts did not meet their goals, or are in shrinking parts of the busines, either territory, product or administration. Some employees did not perform. Just because it made the overall numbers does not mean that with their closing down facilities, perhaps reducing R&D in large chem systems and reagent development because of Olympus, they do not need to reduce headcount where it makes sense. The companies that don't address their problem areas , sometimes leave it too late to repair the damage.

I worked there and there were many in Brea, Fullerton and parts of international that should have been put out to pasture for a number of reasons, sometimes incompetence, sometimes because the project changed and they could not, would not fit in elsewhere because they were not flexible or did not have the attitude to try something different. Others had to work around them, do the job for them, or suffer under their poor management. The review systems were changed almost biannually which did not help. A lot of people got " Satisfactory" just because their supervisor could not manage people and would not give an honest review that their performance was below standard. A new manager comes in and the next year that employee gets a bad review.

If someone got an unfair dismissal it should be addressed. There are plenty of lawyers ready to take on BCI regardless of how big their legal dept is.

"This thread is becoming a battleground for those who have lost their jobs (or feeling threatened) with those who say companies must do what's necessary to be solvent. Emotion versus logic "

I'll type this slowly cuz reading comprehension wasnt your best subject. Across the company layoffs when business is bad does not equal constructive dismissal of certain type of employee when sales and profit are up. The ad hominem you slipped in sez you know this and cant address it.

...understand that companies must do unpleasant things sometimes in order to survive so others can keep their jobs (logic)?

Here's a unique concept. If a company doesn't meet their goals (and companies should have goals) there should, in a properly managed company, be individuals who didn't meet their goals (what is the Chief Human Resources Officer doing if this isn't true?) I don't particularly feel bad when these people lose their jobs. It works like this:

This is what we asked you to do last year, you didn't do it, and others who did more than we asked didn't make up for your failure. Don't bother to show up for work tomorrow.

It just never seems to work that way though.

This thread is becoming a battleground for those who have lost their jobs (or feeling threatened) with those who say companies must do what's necessary to be solvent. Emotion versus logic and the two are not going to agree. I found that out with my wife many years ago. Venus and Mars.
So, can we end this by saying we all feel bad about those who lose their jobs wherever they are (emotion), and understand that companies must do unpleasant things sometimes in order to survive so others can keep their jobs (logic)?

"You respond as if I am taking a position in favor of what BCI is doing and how they treat employees. I am not. I merely state a reality that you need to accept eventually. This is not 1980 any more, it is 2009. The changes are happening everywhere, not just at BCI. Fewer and fewer companies have a paternalistic culture where management tries to operate the company as a family and really cares for its employees. If you happen to find such a company, congratulations. If, on the other hand, you work for a company like BCI which started out and for many years as a family business but no longer has that kind of culture than you are in the same boat as many Americans. The same thing happened to your cousins out near the airport (DPC) when the family sold out to Siemens a couple of years ago. It is a hard adjustment to make, but the sooner you accept this reality, the sooner you can take steps to make your own life happier. Being angry and condemning BCI will not make them change and will not improve your situation. Frequent job changes are the norm nowadays unlike a few decades ago when many people worked for the same company throughout their entire working career. Once again, the world has changed, like it or not. I personally don't think that impersonal, beaurocratic companies are good nor do I support frequent job changes. I feel both are deterimental to both employee and employer. I do, however, recognize this reality and have learned to live with it. My posting was simply an example of 'tough love'. I do not work for BCI so I have no direct stake in this discussion; I have been involved with the diagnostics industry for many years and have watched it change at both the supplier level and the customer level."

I don't know why you keep posting your same drivel like it's some big news flash over and over. I don't need your "tough love", I've already lived thru it, and moved on, thank you very much. This is a thread about BCI, so since you've stated you have no involvement with them, why are you bothering to post? We all know times have changed; blah, blah, blah, that is not what this about. Oh yeah, "good luck" to you too.

Just the result of the production of millions of MBA's over the last couple of decades. Most of the "best and brightest" went into the financial services. Look how well that has turned out. The less bright ones are running biotech firms. All have taken business ethics classes where the mantra "If it's legal, it's ethical" has been pounded into their brains.

You respond as if I am taking a position in favor of what BCI is doing and how they treat employees. I am not. I merely state a reality that you need to accept eventually. This is not 1980 any more, it is 2009. The changes are happening everywhere, not just at BCI. Fewer and fewer companies have a paternalistic culture where management tries to operate the company as a family and really cares for its employees. If you happen to find such a company, congratulations. If, on the other hand, you work for a company like BCI which started out and for many years as a family business but no longer has that kind of culture than you are in the same boat as many Americans. The same thing happened to your cousins out near the airport (DPC) when the family sold out to Siemens a couple of years ago. It is a hard adjustment to make, but the sooner you accept this reality, the sooner you can take steps to make your own life happier. Being angry and condemning BCI will not make them change and will not improve your situation. Frequent job changes are the norm nowadays unlike a few decades ago when many people worked for the same company throughout their entire working career. Once again, the world has changed, like it or not. I personally don't think that impersonal, beaurocratic companies are good nor do I support frequent job changes. I feel both are deterimental to both employee and employer. I do, however, recognize this reality and have learned to live with it. My posting was simply an example of 'tough love'. I do not work for BCI so I have no direct stake in this discussion; I have been involved with the diagnostics industry for many years and have watched it change at both the supplier level and the customer level.

"I don't miss the point at all."
"But you don't address it. There is a legal and ethical difference between laying people off and using constructive dismissal to avoid paying separation packages. Try this- print out a copy of one of your 'leave or shut up' notes, laminate it, and put it in your wallet. Leave it there for about 10 or 15 years. I presume your intelligent enough to figure out that job hopping every couple of years isn't a good long term strategy. You get married, and you both have reasonably successful careers. You have a few kids. Your parents are still around but Dads alzheimers is getting pretty bad. Thats more common than you think. Last year was another good year where nothing ran over schedule and you met or went beyond all of the goals you and your boss laid out. And then you get that review. Its aimed at your character not your performance. Its personal and degrading and it ends with the threat of being fired. But your character hasnt changed. Just the calendar. You slowly realize exactly how screwed you are. Quit or be fired so no severance or unemployment. Six months of mortgage set aside, but with that hole in the roof, the kids braces, and nursing care that's pretty much gone. If your company is pulling this the economy sucks too bad to sell the house and relocate. All those people that depend on you. Now take out that paper and read it."

Great post, this is exactly the point I have been trying to make,
as this is basically the situation I found myself in last year. For any of you who think this will never happen to you, think again. While you're at it, those of you who think that you can recession proof your job by working yourself half to death, guess again. Upper management at BCI thinks nothing of using up employees and throwing them away like garbage. The years you have invested contributing to the success of this company will count for nothing. You are a statistic, only. You will be replaced by someone half your age with more education at a lower salary. I have learned my lesson well. No more "Fortune 500" companies for me. All the money in the world is not worth the sneaky, underhanded, despicable tactics that this once great company has sunk to.

"I don't miss the point at all."
But you don't address it. There is a legal and ethical difference between laying people off and using constructive dismissal to avoid paying separation packages. Try this- print out a copy of one of your 'leave or shut up' notes, laminate it, and put it in your wallet. Leave it there for about 10 or 15 years. I presume your intelligent enough to figure out that job hopping every couple of years isn't a good long term strategy. You get married, and you both have reasonably successful careers. You have a few kids. Your parents are still around but Dads alzheimers is getting pretty bad. Thats more common than you think. Last year was another good year where nothing ran over schedule and you met or went beyond all of the goals you and your boss laid out. And then you get that review. Its aimed at your character not your performance. Its personal and degrading and it ends with the threat of being fired. But your character hasnt changed. Just the calendar. You slowly realize exactly how screwed you are. Quit or be fired so no severance or unemployment. Six months of mortgage set aside, but with that hole in the roof, the kids braces, and nursing care that's pretty much gone. If your company is pulling this the economy sucks too bad to sell the house and relocate. All those people that depend on you. Now take out that paper and read it.

"I do wish BCI would treat their employees with more respect. Simple
human decency toward your employees doesn't cost a thing."

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! You said it better then anyone has for a while.

In addition, the decency toward employees would carry over to customer interactions which would carry over to the bottom line.

I did leave BCI over a year ago, and am thankful I did. I don't
know anyone I've kept in touch with who actually enjoys working
there anymore. They're all praying to be laid off with a package.
I was nearly worked to death the last year or so I was there, and
treated very, very badly by new management. I left of my own volition
in order to salvage what was left of my sanity, health and self esteem. So, you see, I do not want or need it to be 1981 again, but
I do wish BCI would treat their employees with more respect. Simple
human decency toward your employees doesn't cost a thing.

Well said!

I used to work at BCI and I adjusted to many changes over the years. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but the company grew and is still there, unlike a whole bunch of others in IVD, Biotech.

I just don't understand how some people want it to be the old Dr.Beckman or old Wallace Coulter company. They sold out years ago, and AOB did good things for education and science with his money, but sold out. It did not become his to run when he took the moolah. It became the company of the shareholders, and they vote for the Directors and they vote with their money decide to keep or sell BEC stock. If they think the company is run badly they can vote with their money or via appointments of Directors. So do most of us all through 401ks and pension funds and IRAs. In fact BEC is not badly run, and while some people get laid off, overall it is a well managed company that is a marathon runner, in for the long haul.

As soon as it got tanked to $40 after Olympus acquisiton announcement I bought, because it is a fundamentaly good company. Stock now at $51.

Don't like it there? Go find a better company. Today is not 1981. Good luck.

I don't miss the point at all. My point was that things change. Period. Sometime for the better, very often for the worse. Simply deal with it. I presume that you are intelligent enough to have a nice, well prepared resume and that you know where the door is. Do not expect the company, be it BCI or any other, to change themselves to meet you expectations. They won't. If things are as bad as you feel, they don't care. They think they are right and you are wrong and to put it as simply as possible, they are in charge. You are always free to leave and look elsewhere; you are free to stay and complain; and you are free to whine here. They still don't care. Before you get ready to shoot me, please bear in mind that I am not a supporter of BCI management; I am merely a messenger who is trying to show you an harsh reality. The good news is that you still control your own personal fate. Do what you need to do to make yourself happy, but don't expect BCI management to do it for you. Good luck.

"What else is the same as 1981. It always amazes me how people who work for companies that require change, invention, innovation, and discorvery have this fondness for 'the way things were' and cannot seem to accept that things change over a 30 year period. It isn't simply BCI that has changed; the entire industry has changed as have corporate practices, in general. How many companies had a 401(k) plan in 1981? Very few; most had traditional corporate-sponsored retirement plans. How many companies had dental coverage in 1981; many do now. How much energy and enthusiasm did YOU have in 1981 compared to today? Now compare your experience and knowledge in 1981 and 2009. Get the point?"

Seems to me you are missing the point. Sure, things change and evolve; that is necessary and healthy for any business, but not all change is for the best. In BCI's case, they've thrown away their own charter (Dr. Beckman"s). They've become a company of bullies and thugs toward their employees, and good luck stopping them. The Oracle system has been a huge multi million dollar disaster, and even the original "go to" guys have fled knowing what disaster lay ahead, albeit too late. The goons at the top won't admit they're wrong. Employees are still suffering trying to carry on normal business practices; they are being constantly monitered and are
forced to spend more time on "employee compliance" than actual work.
How in the world is that better, than the days when an employer like Beckman used to value and respect it's employees, and treat them like adults, instead of kindergarten tots that needed constant surveillance?

What else is the same as 1981. It always amazes me how people who work for companies that require change, invention, innovation, and discorvery have this fondness for 'the way things were' and cannot seem to accept that things change over a 30 year period. It isn't simply BCI that has changed; the entire industry has changed as have corporate practices, in general. How many companies had a 401(k) plan in 1981? Very few; most had traditional corporate-sponsored retirement plans. How many companies had dental coverage in 1981; many do now. How much energy and enthusiasm did YOU have in 1981 compared to today? Now compare your experience and knowledge in 1981 and 2009. Get the point?

"This worry about ageism and other discrimination is probably way overblown at BCI and is probably good evidence of a group of people who have nothing else to do with their lives than to bash the company that they chose to work for."

It isn't overblown.

If BEC needed to just reduce staff they would have asked for volunteers and then offered a reasonable severance package. That would have been a better way to go. Instead they cherry picked long-term, over age 50 workers for layoff.

Finally, the company I "chose to work for" in 1981 is a far cry from the Beckman of today. Used to be that if you needed some time off for an elective surgery or for physical therapy for a work related injury you could work it out with your supervisor. Now you are better off hiring an attorney and filing a work comp claim.

"Most companies have legal departments that deal with issues relating to layoffs and discrimination."

Its great that you can cut and paste from your HR how to tell your employees they might as well lay back and enjoy it manual and all. Laying off and constructive dismissal are not the same thing. Is the EEOC is making someone nervous? If there isnt a problem you have nothing to worry about.

Most companies have legal departments that deal with issues relating to layoffs and discrimination. Generally, they review the list of people involved in a big layoff and keep an eye on individual layoffs to ensure that there are no trends that suggest discrimination. Having been involved in layoffs at other companies, and having to defend the choices I had to make in reducing my department's size to company lawyers, I would be very surprised if BCI is in danger of a lawsuit over layoffs. Sometimes a company will even ask for volunteers during a large layoffs and, when this happens, the many volunteers often come from older employess who are willing to take a 'package' for an early retirement. Such volunteers would not be counted in the statistics, of course. This worry about ageism and other discrimination is probably way overblown at BCI and is probably good evidence of a group of people who have nothing else to do with their lives than to bash the company that they chose to work for.

Right now, the ageism thing isn't widespread enough to stick for BCI.
This is a great time for them to "cherry pick" whomever they wish to eliminate, as a large layoff and reorg is around the corner. Look for BCI to move out of CA, and into Indiana.

Perhaps the EEOC will be more worker friendly under the Obama administration than they were under the Bush administration.

"Alot of the people this is happening to are 50+ which puts in them in age discrimination territory."

I thought so too so I sent a copy of the release I was asked to sign (to receive severance) to the EEOC. They have prosecuted other employers but they didn't seem too interested in pursuing BEC at this time. I hope others would contact EEOC as well.

I thought there was a class action lawsuit against BEC in California but I have not heard anything about that recently.

"What BCI is doing may be unethical, but it isn't illegal"

Alot of the people this is happening to are 50+ which puts in them in age discrimination territory.

...and then he went public.

...and then he went public.