National

Magna International Inc.: New Process Gear workers learned recently the company is eliminating more jobs and proposing deeper pay cuts. Magna International Inc., owner of the DeWitt transmission parts plant, announced it is laying off 250 more workers. The company said 150 of the job cuts are part of a temporary, one-week layoff. The temporary layoffs coincide with the production schedules of New Process Gear's customers, said a company spokesman. The other 100 job cuts are part of an indefinite layoff. The company said those layoffs are part of a work force reduction announced in July. The latest round of job cuts will bring the plant's employment below 1,900. At its peak, New Process Gear employed 4,000.

eBay Inc.; Faced with slower sales, online auctioneer eBay will cut 10 percent of its staff, eliminating 1,000 full-time jobs and several hundred temporary positions. The company has nearly doubled its staff since 2005.

The McClatchy Company: The McClatchy Co., parent of The News & Observer, said recently that it is cutting 1,150 full-time jobs and halving its quarterly dividend as it deals with a deep advertising slump. The staff reductions are already under way and include voluntary buyouts announced at The News and Observer Publishing Co., which also owns The Cary News, The Chapel Hill News and other papers. Nationwide, the cuts will affect about 10 percent of McClatchy's staff. The N&O expects to eliminate as many as 70 jobs, or about 9 percent of its work force, the Publisher said in an e-mail message to employees recently. The News and Observer Publishing Co. has offered buyouts to 320 workers, and if too few take them it will move to lay-offs. McClatchy must cut costs as the economic downturn and a shift toward the Internet drains its advertising revenue at a precarious time. The Sacramento, Calif.-based company took on debt in 2006 to buy larger rival Knight Ridder and is trying to stay in compliance with bank terms.

Hanjin Shipping Company Ltd.: Hanjin Shipping will lay off workers and transfer their functions from its United States headquarters in Paramus, N.J., and several other regional offices to Atlanta and Phoenix in an effort to reduce costs by consolidating jobs in two national service centers. Hanjin Shipping's managing director in charge of North and South America said about 60 regional jobs are being transferred out of the Paramus offices, which will reduce the headcount there from about 200 to 140. The functions being transferred are regional jobs including local equipment management, truck dispatch, documentation and some customer service functions such as payables. Some functions also are being transferred from Salt Lake City to Phoenix and others from Memphis, Norfolk and other places to Atlanta.

Alaska Air Group Inc.: With the announcement that it will lay off up to 10 percent of its work force and make further cuts to its flight schedule, Alaska Airlines has joined the ranks of troubled airlines both here and abroad. Many U.S. airlines are cutting both jobs and flights as they struggle with high fuel prices and a troubled economy. Alaska said that it plans to cut 850 to 1,000 jobs, starting soon. The carrier also will cut seat capacity by 8 percent. The job cuts will affect pilots, flight attendants, aircraft technicians, customer-service agents and ramp workers and will take effect through early 2009, said Seattle-based Alaska Air Group Inc., which owns Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air. The number of positions to be cut in the Seattle area can't be determined yet, an Alaska Airlines spokeswoman said. That's because the airline is trying to make the reductions through early-retirement programs and extended leaves of absence, and it's not clear how many employees will participate in those programs or where they are located, she said.