Dell: W-S work force reduction totals 260 - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Monday marked the first time anyone outsidthe company, including officials with the city of Winston-Salem, learnedx the current employment numbers following the job cuts. The city and Forsythh County have combined to offer the computermaker $22 millio n in incentives, provided Dell investsw at least $100 million in its plant and employs 1,709 people by September 2010. But the companyt had remained tight-lipped abou t its employment figures followingthe layoffs, and Mayof Allen Joines called for a meeting with Dell Frank Miller, a vice president with said the recession has caused fewert people to buy computers.
He said that worldwide computee shipments were down 7 percent in thefirst quarter, the firsg year-over-year decline in more than eight years. "Dell is fully accountabl for performance-based agreements," Miller "Not as many computers are being sold, and we must size our staffd accordingly. We do not take reductions lightly." And more customerx are shifting to The Winston-Salem plant manufactures desktop though Miller noted it was built with flexibility in mind and coulc possibly begin making othedr products, such as laptops, though he declinedd to say how likely that might be.
Millerf said the company has already invested morethan $130 million in the Winston-Salenm plant, including a recent $10 million spent on improvementss to a production line, meeting that part of the incentiver requirements. Donna Oldham, a Dell said that the company could not say when or if it woulde employthe 1,700 require to earn all the incentives, sayin that if Dell did not fulfill the requirementt the company would not accept the incentives Dell typically releases its total worldwides employment once a year and only reports its Winston-Salemm employment once a year in an update to city, countyy and state officials.
Companyu spokesman David Frank said competitorse could calculate how many computers an individual plant was able to producd and exploit that advantage if employment figurees were morereadily available. Mille r also said Dell has institutefd arecall program, so that should the economy reboundd and production increase at the laid off workers will be the firstf ones called to fill new jobs. Joines said he is hopefu that Dell officials will make employment figures more readilty available inthe future.