18/08/2008 by info.

S & S Cycle cuts 60 workers

By RYAN STOTTS / La Crosse Tribune

VIOLA, Wis. — The euphoria for S & S Cycle’s 50th anniversary in June has been short-lived.

Company President Brett Smith announced Friday that 60 workers have been cut this month through voluntary separation and layoffs.
“This was a very, very hard decision personally,” Smith said. “People I’ve known for years were impacted.”

He blamed the economic slump for a downturn in sales of the company’s high-performance engine parts and engines for motorcycles.
“In the grand scheme of things, we make a product that people don’t need to have,” he said.

All but two of the cuts were made at the company’s Viola site rather than the La Crosse location, Smith said.
The company Aug. 4 offered voluntary separation packages that 33 employees — mostly in product development and sales and marketing — accepted, Smith said.
They began leaving the company Aug. 8, he said.

Another 27 employees, primarily in production and manufacturing, were laid off by Thursday, Smith said.

Others who remained have been transferred to different areas, such as customer service.

S & S now employs a total of about 195 at both sites, he said.

“We’re doing everything we can to become lean and consolidate our efforts for future long-term employment,” Smith said. “We don’t expect to be in this position forever.”

The company’s core business of bolt-on, high-performance, after-market components still is strong and growing, he said, but S & S had to take a pragmatic approach in an economic environment that’s seeing less disposable income.

“It’s a very unfortunate decision, coming on the heels of our 50th anniversary,” Smith said.

The S & S event, which drew an estimated 28,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to La Crosse in late June, played no role in the cutbacks, Smith said. Despite rumors, the cost of hosting the event was completely covered by sales of the 50 custom motorcycles made for the competition, he said, and the support of the community.

Ryan Stotts can be reached at (608) 791-8446 or ryan.stotts@lee.net.

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18/08/2008 by info.

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird.  We had made plans to meet at a bar to have a drink.  I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it.

Conversation wasn’t flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk.  He agreed, but he didn’t say much.  I asked him what was wrong.  He said, ‘Nothing.’  I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset.  He said he wasn’t upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it.  On the way home, I told him that I loved him.  He smiled slightly, and kept driving.  I can’t explain his behaviour.  I don’t know why he didn’t say, ‘I love you, too.’  When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore.  He just sat there quietly, and watched TV.  He continued to seem distant and absent.

Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed.  About 15 minutes later, he came to bed.  To my surprise, he responded to my caress, and we made love.  But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else.  He fell asleep - I cried.  I don’t know what to do.  I’m almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else.  My life is a disaster.
 

HIS DIARY:
Harley wouldn’t start today, but at least I got laid.<–>

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