“Apple Inc. eliminated 174 sales and support jobs at its Elk Grove facility Thursday, transferring the work to a site in Austin, Texas,” Dale Kasler reports for The Sacramento Bee.
“In a letter to state officials, Apple said the 174 workers will be given opportunities to relocate or apply for another Apple job in Elk Grove. The company said it employs more than 1,100 workers in Elk Grove,” Kasler reports. “The layoffs include sales representatives, online chat representatives and others.”
Kasler reports, “City officials said they were taking the news in stride. ‘While it’s very disappointing that 174 people are going to be laid off, we’re still fortunate that the company remains a major employer in Elk Grove,’ said Steve Czarnecki, executive director of the Elk Grove Economic Development Corp.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “George” for the heads up.]
Good luck to those Apple employees who are affected. On the bright side, at least somebody’s hiring in Austin. 
Wait… shouldn’t this read “Beleaguered Apple Axes Scores of Employees“?
…Just kidding…
Sounds like Steve is trying to get a tax break, layoff some folks to scare local government, and voila.
@nekogami13
It’s only ironic because it’s the same place. I’m sorry if we have differing senses of humor. Eesh, can’t even make a lame joke around here without getting berated.
…that Apple will rescue many of the workers victimized by Dell. When Mikey eventually scraps everything and passes the losses to the shareholders, Apple will be a (likely growing) presence in Austin, which will help cushion the impact of Dell´s demise.
Texas.
I don’t think so.
The link to the actual article is:
http://www.sacbee.com/elkgrove/story/907052.html
Although not reported, they may have laid off 174 “sales” people. They are about to add 250 (temp) Iphone support agents in neighboring Rancho Cordova.
Leaving Cali for anywhere in Texas is like trading a date with a Supermodel for a date with a truck stop lot lizard. Austin is better than most of the rest of Tejas, but that’s a dubious title to hold.
On the employment front, I hear a Coke dealer/distributor will be needed in Crawford, Texas NLT January 2009. Send your applications to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.
“And at least they’re not leaving thousands of people in the dust. They’re giving these 174 people a chance for another job with Apple.”
That’s disingenuous crap. Usually the way it works with such announcements, 174 people are going to be allowed to apply for 3 open positions which they’re not qualified for or relocate to Texas at their own expense. If they had plans to move almost all to other departments, they would have done that rather than firing them.