Abbott is at it again. Last December, the Chicago-based company announced it was slashing 1,200 jobs. According to a report Abbott Laboratories filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company will again be cutting 1,000 jobs (1.5 percent of its workforce) by 2011 in an effort to "streamline global manufacturing operations, reduce overall costs, and improve efficiencies" in its diagnostics business. The local impact will be felt in California and Illinois where Abbott plans to close its clinical chemistry plant in South Pasadena and cut back its staff in Santa Clara and Lake County, Illinois. Abbott also plans to transfer some of its production to plants in Europe.
The company will take a $370 million charge to put the plan in place, but expects to save $150 million a year once it's done, the SEC report said.
Abbott is not alone. In December, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced that it would be cutting 10 percent of 43,000 jobs worldwide while Novartis announced a plan to cut 2,500 jobs--or 2.5 percent--of its workforce. Since last summer, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Amgen and Bristol-Myers Squibb have all announced large layoff and restructuring plans.
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