Amgen cuts 'small number' of staffers » Ventura County Star

Amgen Inc. on Wednesday notified an undisclosed number of people that it plans to cut their jobs.

A company statement said the "transition of work will impact a small number of regular Amgen staff positions."

While the Thousand Oaks-based biotech company addressed staff positions, it did not indicate how many temporary or contract jobs might be affected. Nor did it address questions about whether the jobs are to be outsourced.

"We have decided to consolidate some of our vendor-supported work and other selected activities under one central supplier to help us operate more efficiently and advance our large late-stage pipeline," the statement read.

Public officials had not been alerted of the cuts as of Friday. A notice is required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law if 50 or more jobs are cut.

The number of layoffs was not large enough to generate a WARN notice, according to Thousand Oaks spokesman Andrew Powers.

"Obviously, any loss of local jobs is always a concern," he said. "With a large multinational corporation like Amgen, these types of ebbs and flows are fairly common. The city's focus remains on creating a business-friendly community and diverse local economy."

As of Dec. 31, Amgen had about 17,800 staff members worldwide, including about 300 part-time staff members.

In October, Amgen announced it would lay off 226 research and development employees at its Thousand Oaks headquarters as the company moves to cut 380 jobs worldwide.

Those jobs were terminated effective Dec. 30.

via vcstar.com

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