Kodak slashing up to 23 percent of work force

indystar ^ | January 22, 2004 | ap

[anniegetyourgun]

Kodak's leadership made some bad bets in past years.

[kellynla]

Companies exporting America: Source CNN.COM.
3 COM
3M

A
Accenture
Adaptec
Adobe Systems
Advanced Energy Industries
AMD
Aetna
Agere Systems
Agilent Tech.
AIG
Alamo Rent A Car
Albertson's
Alliance Semiconductor
Allstate
Alpha Thought Global
American Express
American Standard
Amphenol Corp.
Andrew Corp.
AOL
Applied Materials
AT&T
AT&T Wireless
A.T. Kearney
Avery Dennison

B
Bank of America
Bank of New York
Bank One
Bechtel
BellSouth
Best Buy
Black & Decker
BMC Software
Boeing

C
Capital One
Carrier
Cendant
Cerner Corporation
Charles Schwab
ChevronTexaco
Ciena
Cigna
Circuit City, Inc.
Cisco Systems
Citigroup
Coca-Cola
Comcast Holdings
Computer Associates
Computer Sciences Corporation
Continental Airlines
Convergys
Cooper Tire & Rubber
Cooper Tools
COVAD Comm.
CSX
Cummins

D
Dell Computer
Delta Air Lines
Direct TV
Discover
Document Sciences Corp.
Dow Chemical
DuPont

E
Earthlink
Eastman Kodak
Eaton Corporation
EDS
Electroglas
Electronics for Imaging
Eli Lilly
EMC
Emerson Electric
Ernst & Young
Expedia
ExxonMobil

F
Fedders Corporation
Fidelity Investments
First American Title Ins.
First Data
Fluor
Ford Motor
Franklin Mint

G
Gateway
General Electric
GlobespanVirata
Goldman Sachs
Goodrich
Google
Greenpoint Mortgage
Guardian Life Insurance

H
The Hartford Financial Services Group
HealthAxis
Hewitt Associates
Hewlett-Packard
The Holmes Group
HSN

I
IBM
IndyMac Bancorp
Innodata Isogen
Intel
Intl. Paper
Intuit
ITT Educational Services

J
Jacobs Engineering
Jacuzzi
JDS Uniphase
Johnson Controls
Johnson & Johnson
JPMorgan Chase
Juniper Networks

K
KANA Software
Kaiser Permanente
Keane
KLA-Tencor

L
Lawson Software
Lehman Brothers
Levi Strauss
Lexmark International
Lifescan
Lillian Vernon
Linksys
Lockheed Martin
Lowe's
Lucent

M
Maritz
Marshall Fields
Mattel
Maytag
McDATA Corporation
Medtronic
Mellon Bank
Merrill Corporation
Merrill Lynch
Metasolv
MetLife
Microsoft
Monsanto
Morgan Stanley
Motorola

N
Nabco
National City Corporation
National Life
National Semiconductor
NCR Corporation
Network Associates
Newell Rubbermaid
New York Life Insurance Co.
Northwest Airlines

O
Office Depot
ON Semiconductor
Oracle
Otis Elevator Co.
Owens Corning

P
palmOne
Parker-Hannifin
Parsons E&C
Pearson Digital Learning
Pericom Semiconductor
Perot Systems
Pfizer
Planar Systems
Portal Software
Pratt & Whitney
Primus Telecom
Procter & Gamble
Providian Financial
Prudential Insurance

Q
Qwest Comm.

R
Rainbow Technologies
Raytheon Aircraft
Regence Group
Rohm & Haas
RR Donnelley & Sons
Russell Corporation

S
SAIC
SBC Comm.
SEI Investments
Siebel Systems
Sikorsky
Solectron
Sovereign Bancorp
Sprint
Sprint PCS
State Farm Insurance
State Street
StorageTek
SunTrust Banks
SurePrep
The Sutherland Group
Sykes Enterprises
Synygy

T
Target
Tecumseh
Telcordia
TeleTech
Texas Inst.
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Time Warner
Triquint Semiconductor
TRW Automotive
Tyco Electronics
Tyco Intl.

U
Unisys
United Online
United Tech.

V
VA Software
Veritas
Verizon

W
Wachovia Bank
Washington Group Intl.
Washington Mutual
WellChoice
West Corporation

Y
Yahoo!

[Rightone]

Cognizant of gay Americans’ economic power and growing political clout, many companies are adopting diversity policies aimed at making their environments friendlier places for gay workers.

But the policies have, in some workplaces, created a backlash, and have raised questions about how much tolerance there is for employees who disagree with these more inclusive policies.

At Eastman Kodak, the recent firing of an employee who criticized a company initiative on behalf of gay workers has touched off a rancorous debate between proponents of corporate diversity and free expression. The dispute echoes recent ones at companies including AT&T and Verizon Communications in which workers alleging they were disciplined for opposing policies advocating gay acceptance have sued, claiming violations of their rights to religious expression.

‘Disgusting and Offensive’
The Kodak dispute started late last year when Rolf Szabo, a millwright at a Rochester, N.Y., plant, received an e-mail touting “National Coming Out Day.” The memo, forwarded by a supervisor, suggested ways to make “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered” workers feel more comfortable discussing their sexual orientations.
Mr. Szabo typed out a terse reply: “Please do not send this type of information to me anymore as I find it disgusting and offensive.” He hit the send button, dispersing his response to about 1,000 employees who had received the original memo.

Kodak says it fired the 23-year company veteran after he refused to sign papers apologizing for his e-mail and outlining the steps he had taken to prevent a reoccurrence of such actions.

Gerard Meuchner, a Kodak spokesman, said Mr. Szabo wasn’t dismissed for holding a particular opinion or belief, which he says Mr. Szabo could have expressed to supervisors or the human-resources department without fear of recrimination. But he said Mr. Szabo erred by sending it as a mass-mailing. “In the company’s view, this act created the potential for a hostile work environment,” he said.

Mr. Meuchner said Mr. Szabo was told that Kodak didn’t wish to dismiss him, but that it merely wished to counsel him about why his conduct was inappropriate. “He was not asked to admit that his opinions were wrong, but to acknowledge the way he communicated them was inappropriate.”

Mr. Szabo declines to comment on the case, saying, “this is all going to end up in court.”

The case has drawn the attention of conservative Christian groups as well as gay-rights organizations. Kodak says it has received e-mails about the dispute, most supporting Mr. Szabo. “Some people have said they will not buy Kodak products,” says another company spokesman, James Blamphin, who declined to disclose how many messages had been received.

[sinkspur]

Your list includes most of the Fortune 100.

You can blame the countries, or look to what is forcing them to seek lower labor costs and a better business climate elsewhere.

[sinkspur]

Correction: you can blame the COMPANIES...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Kodak's layoffs were brought about by technology change. I was talking to a guy yesterday about Motorola 2-way business radios that were once common around mines and industrial sites a decade ago. These units cost $1,000 or more but now you can't give them away because cell phones have taken over.
Is this a bad thing ?

[Land of the Free 04]

You can blame the [companies], or look to what is forcing them to seek lower labor costs and a better business climate elsewhere.

Much more fun to bash the companies. :-/

[hopespringseternal]

Kodak is run by the same sort of fools as Disney, who waste company resources on politics rather than products.

Anybody recommend a replacement for Kodak film? Fuji is too grainy.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Kodak is a dead company, surviving on inertia. They'll end up filing bankruptcy and selling their remaining assets to Fuji in a few years.

[sinkspur]

Is this a bad thing ?

Of course not. Kodak frittered away a lot of opportunities in the past 20 years. It made a good copier (much better than IBM and even Xerox) but has never been able to make a go of it in the digital imaging business.

Kodak's never been a nimble company, and it's cost a lot of good people their jobs.

[sinkspur]

Grind your illegal immigration axe on another thread. It has nothing to do with Kodak.

[BallandPowder]

Powder..Patch..Ball FIRE!

Anybody recommend a replacement for Kodak film? Fuji is too grainy

I went to digital this fall and probably will hock my AE-1 Cannon SLR. I'm extremely pleased with the quality and editing abilities I get with my new Sony.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

I quit buying Kodak film when they fired the guy because he wouldn't go to the homosexual endorsement classes. It would be nice if I could say that my boycott had this effect on Kodak, but, more than likely, it did not...

I still refuse to buy Kodak...

[hopespringseternal]

I went to digital this fall

Digital is great for somethings, but it can't touch film for resolution. Not even Fuji.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I saw a Kodak copier in a Blue Cross office in about 1980. Big, fast and said to be durable. It was the only one I ever saw like it.

[RayChuang88]

Having seen printed output from a Nikon CoolPix 5000 that took pictures at full resolution, unless you're a high-end photographer that really needs very high resolution for commercial photography work the days of the majority of camera owners using film are coming to an end.

The only place where film will still prevail is for commercial photography work: printed commercials, high-end magazine photography, and art works. And they're mostly on 35 mm slide film, medium format films (6 x 4.5 cm and 6 x 7 cm negative size format), and photographic plates. And even that could change as pixel resolution goes past 20 megapixels on a single sensor (which could happen before 2006).

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I am in the market for a digital 35 SLR but I do not care for the little shirt pocket variety cameras.
I've had the same Pentax ME since 1981 (sent in for factory cleaning once) and it still is a great camera--one of the last with a metal frame...

[BullingersEars]

My dad works at Kodak (along with many others here in the Rochester area). It's not a very nice place to work these days.. the layoffs seem endless. If you haven't gotten the axe, chances are your roommate, good friend, whatever has. I think most of the folks there are hoping to last til retirement, then get the heck out. Sadly, most of the folks losing their jobs are the ones who are closest to retirement.