I know I am coming in late for th discussion but I can say a few things, NVS is already understaffed as many people have already been flocking away from it. I am really sorry for all the people that will lose a job, and I do not know whether I feel lucky or not that I quit a few months ago, I just found out the company I will work for has been bought by another one...darn...

fighting against a loss is also wanting 'more profit'. ultimately, the directors have a fiduciary duty to the company and so are to act in the best interest of the company which may not be the same as the best interest of all employees (at least not current ones).

although hopefully will be in the best interest of employees in the long term by cutting unprofitable lines and growing and developing more profitable lines which in the future will give rise to better jobs (just witness what happens to companies which fail to move with the times, they might preserve jobs for a few years, but ultimately lose everything).

because the general public have nothing to do with it. novartis has shareholders who do have voting rights and can exercise them.

__________________
By replying to this post, you hereby grant Phil_MCR a royalty-free license to use, in any way, anything posted by you on the internet. If you do not accept, stop using EF and delete your account.

Do you feel that it is socially wrong for CEOs only or for anybody else to gain so much?

Hmm. In some departments at NVS you see more people passing through than in other departments. However, the objective-centered high performance atmosphere at NVS also makes people to take on more work than what is generally accepted in other companies. I have worked at 4 different pharma companies, and never was working as hard as now in NVS (except when working in the hospital). And this is not only due to understaffing, but also due to high expectations from management and the way our salary system is organized.

Now this is a self-selecting thing, and the people staying (aka not leaving by themself) are the ones feeling good at this. I do not know how this translates in the upper management regions. But I do know that the job cuts affect both low-educated and high-educated people. And that it affects not only Swiss. Actually, 19 out of 20 people that I know that have been notified that their job will disappear are non-Swiss people.

It is interesting to see how the reactions on this thread ventured into the "old discussion" of how large business should behave, around the balance of profitability and loyalty to the employees, and around the Swiss vs non-Swiss thing. It is easy for me to say that - "if I am sr management, I would do things differently, with more loyalty to my employees". However, I am not sr management, and I do not know how they come to decisions. Maybe I don't want to know.

I feel sorry for my colleagues who will be out of a job soon. When the news was made public (pm Basel time) the affected colleagues were already notified in the am. We were informed that every one of them will have consultations with HR to see if they can be placed somewhere else in the company. I heard (not confirmed) that no new external people will be hired for several months to give the internal people a chance to find a job inside NVS. So, at least NVS is doing something to ease the pain. For some (higher educated / project managers) it will be easier than for others (animal care people). I am already reaching out to my network to try and help some of them with a new job. Still, it is extremely difficult and challenging for everybody who is about to loose his/her job.

Cheaper workforce, less regulation, no stress , no question, no syndicate results more profit.

It may sound brutal, but it is NOT the job of a company to create or maintain jobs. IF the steps now taken stabilize and/or improve the company, not short-term but medium-term and long-term, in the interests of medium- and long-term shareholders and the company as such, alright. Only the future will tell whether they at Novartis made the right decisions. I hope they did.

I agree with you. Companies like Novartis should be free to operate where it is in their interest to do so.

BUT governments should be free to fix the price of drugs, unlike here where Novartis blackmailed Switzerland by saying: keep overcharging the Swiss or we go. Now that they go then we should have access to cheaper drugs!

Fortunately Switzerland is small and hence it is possible for most to buy OTC drugs abroad.

I would have less of a problem if it were the owner of the company and not some "oh-you've-f*ed-up-here-take-your-golden-parachute-manager". But still.

Anyway, while I agree with the statement, it is not mine. It is by Peter F. Drucker, the old commie..

Hi ,
I know its been over a week since the big announcement..does anyone out there know if the protest had any effect? Has anyone out there heard anything?

I saw this and was wondering if this was a fresh set of cuts, or were they taken into account when the 2000 cuts were announced?

Novartis won't be leaving Nyon or fire people in there after all.

Source: TdG

I don't know the details but to me it looks like they blackmailed canton Vaud.

Wow, that is cynical. I suppose some are never content. First they are the devil for cutting jobs, now they are blackmailers because they are keeping them.

I for one however applaud the effort taken by all parties to attempt to come to a better outcome.

That's the truth. I just hope no other companies follow suit and start telling the newspapers they're going to leave X or Y canton and then wait until the authorities offer them a fiscal discount in order to stay.

What, you hope they just up and leave then? Just shut down things and pack up because it is easier. You don't think industry, government and the people don’t need to work co-operatively? You think that Switzerland is an easy place to produce things with the strength of the currency and the current economic climate in the world? You think that Novartis should make a loss and just swallow that?

Well, I have some news for you. Those pensions and securities and all those wonderful things that people take as a "right" are very much tied to the success of companies such as Novartis and if the company fails, then everybody will feel it, that simple. If the company withdraws, it won't pay taxes there anymore and the local communities will feel the pain. If the company goes bankrupt, then the local communities will feel the pain. These things are linked, no matter whether you like it or not. If you can figure out a way to unlink them, I suggest you go into politics.

__________________
Living it up in Gersau.

Yes whatever... but who says they're making a loss in a particular site? Novartis themselves, of course, and if it wasn't true they'd easily create that loss, there are many clean ways of doing it.

I don't know how to answer that. You are the one accusing them of things. Do you have any proof? I am sure they have auditable books that must have some public record? Do you know something that was not brought up at the press conference? I just honestly think that it is better for these groups to work together to find a solution than to sit around sulking about "the big corporate evils" and accusing them of things without providing proof of thier wrong doing.

You would not want the public to assume that you are guilty until proven innocent, right?

__________________
Living it up in Gersau.