"In total the company is halting all manufacturing operations from December 20 until January 2 2009. Pay for all its executives, board-level directors and other senior management is being cut. One of the three hard drive manufacturing plants in Navanakorn, Thailand will close as will one of its two media substrate facilities in Sarawak, Malaysia.

There will be a reduction in the number of temporary workers and a reduction in shift overtime, and workers who leave will not be replaced. This is intended to reduce manufacturing work hours by up to 20 per cent. The capital spending budget for fiscal 2009 will be cut from $750m to approximately $500m.

These actions should be complete by the end of March, 2009 and will result in total charges of approximately $150m but will save $150m a year."

they're skilled workers because they work in a specialized, high-tech company ... i guess THE only high-tech company in Sarawak?

these workers may not be able to find similar/equivalent job there itself, so it's a waste too