Has any one noticed that the “fat” in middle to senior mgmt has been safe through out this whole screwed up mess? The big dogs got to leave with their paper, and the day to day workers get to leave with their papers but it’s the wrong color paper. What just happened here, we like green too. It seems that the folks on the front line are taking a beating and make the least money. It’s all about head count. We could help make out the list too, no really, include us. We won’t base it on the bands you fall in, we will call a spade a spade. Another great thing to see is all the closed doors all day. We want to play too! It’s nothing but a bunch of B.S. secrets and that really makes me sick! Back to the fat that hasn’t been slapped, how about this, Asst Supervisor, Supervisor, Sr Supervisor, Asst Mgr, Mgr, Senior Mgr, Asst Dir. Dir. Sr Dir. That’s 9 safe jobs, “for now” and wipe out 50 indians instead that make less combined than the 9 closed doors. And how about the safe VP’s. We have more VP’s than indians. Okay, any way, hows your evening going? I just wanted to call and say thanks for working countless hours making your company be the best that it can be. So much for that.
X-Bud

Any news on the state of Procurement at AB? They’re the only ones “saving” money rather than “spending” it. I wish only the best to those that didn’t get too caught up in working for the King of Beers, and actually did their best to structure sound business deals. Net120 is a joke and any vendor that accepts it, will make up for the cost somewhere else. My thoughts are with you all, Procurement.

Ex-TAQ: I had dinner last night with someone (27yrs) let go yesterday. He rattled off a long list of names, many who I knew when I worked over there. Unfortunately, they have chosen to retain almost all of the North side cronies, so they are still pretty top-heavy. I suspect that will change as they start out-sourcing more, and sell the parks. Sounds like about 50 people are hitting the street. The thing I don’t understand is that there were a number of people who approached the management and asked to be released (since they had other jobs or sources of income) but they were told that they would be retained (so someone else was laid off.) Ridiculous.

canthardlywait, Thanks for the info. I didn’t want to bother people until they were ready to talk. I knew one of the Sr. people left for NY, but, other than that, no idea how things were going. Cheers!

The old A-B is dead and buried. When I recieved my appointment e-mail to be given my fate, I had already heard from some in my department who had been “retained”. I was actually dreading the meeting at that point thinking that I too would be retained. When I walked into the conference room/office to meet with my Mgr. (not even my direct manager by the way) and HR Generalist I could not get a sense of what the outcome would be. My Manager (who had been recently promoted to VP)has the personality of dried dirt. When I was told that I would be “unretained” (not sure that is even word) I was relieved. It was truly the best thing that could have happened. The outplacement is not even close to what the so called brain trust 360 top executives will be getting, but it will be better than what the next group on the chopping block will get.

It is true that for the most part the people that were cut were some of the hardest working, loyal people at A-B. I’m not just saying that because I was one of them. The recent lay-offs were a chance for Management to pick off those who had caused problems or headaches for them by pointing out their weaknesses, or by standing up and actually giving a contrary opinion to their boss. Most of those manager’s who got their positions through family ties or sexual favors, who were not even remotley qualified are still employed, but the ones that made them successful, who recieved little or no praise or recognition are gone. Not going to be so easy to shine now without your fall guy, but guess they won’t have to worry about that for too much longer once our friend Brito throws them out too. Good luck finding a job or keeping one in the real world.

What hurts the most is that A-B was NOT doing poorly overall, they were in no way doing as bad as the Banking or Auto Industries. They were not facing overwhelming debt and where doing relatively well. The stakeholders (employee’s, vendors, community, etc.) were making money and putting it back into the community. They were not growing the market share fast enough, that was all. There were changes that needed to be made, they were top heavy in Mgmt. for one, there were ways to cut spending without using the slash n burn method. There were people who were committed to quality and believed in what A-B stood for, now its all gone.

I am one of the people left in the department. Funny how the older managers were let go and the new managers are generally all people under 30.

Most of the people over 45 were let go. A much younger and less experienced department is what is left. InBev will be surprised how little money this group with little experience will really save them.

Wonder when the lawsuits will start!!!

Great comment by Ex HR - my manager also had the personality of dried dirt. He never did a lick of work until the merger talks began. Funny how he managed to save himself.
Brito eventually will get younger workers who never knew the AB traditions and it will only be a job to them. It’s pretty common knowledge that Brito has made public comments that should get the company in trouble over age discrimination. Let the law suits begin. He also made comments to employees at a “town hall” meeting about getting rid of the Mexicans. He meant Modelo but all in all it was a pretty offensive remark.