Apple’s bankrupt former sapphire supplier is seeking to shut down its Mesa, Arizona plant and has informed 727 employees that they will be laid off between today and December 15th, according to AZ Central. The breakdown of the jobs being cut includes:
…524 production workers, 108 technical positions, 70 management jobs and 25 administrative jobs, according to the notice signed by Linda Luman, vice president of human resources for GT.
GTAT first filed for bankruptcy after it was revealed that the company had not been able to meet Apple’s demand for sapphire crystal smartphone displays to be used in the recently-released iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, causing Apple to withhold a #139 million payment.
The sapphire provider has asked that the court documents surrounding this case be sealed and revealed a few of the contractual obligations that Apple’s suppliers are held to. Prior to the announcement, the CEO of GT Advanced Technologies unloaded millions in stock.
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Don’t invest in America, Apple. You will get screwed.
December 15th is so arbitrary. if your going to screw your employees why not go all the way with it.
Lay everybody off on December 24th. Require all of them to work on the 24th to come and pick up their final paycheck. anybody who doesn’t show up can wait for their checks in the mail.
“What’s that? you still haven’t received your check? I could have sworn I sent it out last week. I’ll send it out first thing Monday” repeat this a few times before actually sending the check
Merry Christmas!
This sends such a poor signal out regarding the supposedly resurgent “Manufactured In America” buzzword, or is it something in the Arizona drinking water?
Wow this is crazy, just lay off the people instead of working with Apple to meet demands you agreed to too and at one point thought you could fulfill…no wonder Apple manufactures off shores ugh!
GTAT filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Laying off employees is a pretty common reorganization strategy, especially for those companies that have filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. Presumably the layoffs are part of the company’s reorganization efforts, a way to cut costs while they figure out their balance sheet issues, though there’s really no telling whether or not they’ll emerge from the situation.
Chapter 11 protection is well understood, and is a useful, critical tool for companies trying to fight their way out of a difficult trading position.
But the timeline of events here with all the prior instances of stock offloading at higher management levels, the unseemly rush towards court-mandated dissolution and closure followed now with these end-of-year lay-offs suggest an agenda far removed from recovery and more towards asset-stripping, slash and burn.
No doubt the next steps will involve finger-pointing and attempts to assign blame and responsibility for the loss of jobs in the state. One can already sense the hovering hacks and attack writers for hire; in fact it’s quite likely these Pulitzer Prize candidate pseudo sob stories are already penned and waiting to fly off the presses at the most destructively opportune moment.
Here comes the Season of Goodwill, A Christmas Carol all over again…
why the hell do they have ~10 managers for every worker there? No wonder this stupid company is flailing. They blame Apple for a contract THAT THEY signed. Apple, per the contract, did not pay them a $100 some odd million dollar payment due to them missing a milestone. This crap-ass company sounds utterly mismanaged from top to bottom.
How is it 10 managers for every worker? In the article it states: “524 production workers, 108 technical positions, 70 management jobs”. It roughly becomes 1 manager for every 10 workers.
GTAT’s executive business strategy:
1. Promise Apple something you can’t deliver.
2. Watch your stock double after the deal is announced.
3. Sell most of your stock near the high.
4. Sell the rest of it before the truth comes out.
5. Declare bankruptcy, lay off your workers and blame it all on Apple.
Wow, this has all gone in such a strange direction.
How many total people are employed there?
From my vantage point this looks more like a complete collapse, where leadership completely mismanaged or miscalculated. This is not what I’d call a move to rebalance the books. It feels like unwinding the business and cashing out investors with whatever is left.
To those 700+ employees:
Start job-searching now