Chicago's Mayor Daley: Expect Mass Layoffs in Coming Year

Joanie Lum CHICAGO (CBS) ― The warning is out – Mayor Richard M. Daley says a parade of corporate chief executives have told him huge layoffs are planned around the city and will carry into next year.

As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, when Daley made the announcement, workers around the city felt a chill, and they are wondering who will be laid off next.

The news is especially alarming because the discussion concerns not just city jobs, but the private sector. Thus, it seems the City That Works is about to become the city that gets laid off.

Mayor Daley says corporate leaders told him huge layoffs will impact the city this month and next, and into the new year. He also says city, county and state governments should be prepared for their revenue to fall dramatically because of the souring economy.

"This is going to be all year, so it's going to be a very frightening economy," Mayor Daley said. "Each one tells me what they're laying off, and they're going to double that next year. We're talking huge numbers of permanent layoffs for people in the economy. It's going to have a huge effect on all businesses."

The mayor said the gravity of the situation cannot be underestimated.

"We never experienced anything like this except people who came from the Depression," Mayor Daley said. "When you have that many layoffs early – and they're telling me this is only the beginning of their layoffs – that is very frightening."

Mayor Daley also warned that local governments will be in jeopardy and may not have enough money to meet payroll, although he is not worried about paying City of Chicago employees.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Postal Service ended its fiscal year $2.8 billion in the red, battered by a faltering economy that cut the amount of mail being sent.
Postmaster General John Potter said the agency is making sharp cuts in hours and overtime but added there are no plans for layoffs. The mail being sent dropped by 9.5 billion items.

"We expect the new fiscal year to be another difficult one," Potter said, adding: "We're not panicking here."

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