Job cuts at Staples, Houghton Mifflin, and other Mass. companies

December 5, 2008 04:47 PM E-mail| |Comments ()| Text size – +

Four large Massachusetts companies are paring their payrolls, eliminating hundreds of jobs as the deepening recession spreads into industry sectors ranging from office supplies and publishing to legal services and data storage equipment.

Office products retailer Staples Inc. confirmed it will lay off about 140 workers, half at its home office in Framingham. Staples on Tuesday reported its third-quarter net income declined 43 percent from last year.

"Like many companies, Staples has been making some difficult decisions to stay competitive in these challenging times," said company spokesman Paul Capelli. "We've certainly seen a slowdown in business, like most retailers and many other companies."

Boston educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co., meanwhile, disclosed that it was combining several units, resulting in job cuts. "We regret that we must say goodbye to some colleagues with whom we've worked and collaborated for many years," Tony Lucki, the company's chairman and chief executive, wrote in a memo obtained by The Globe.

A company insider said the cuts would affect several hundred of the company's 5,300 workers, including fewer than 100 in Boston. The company employs about 900 in the city's Back Bay neighborhood.

Goulston & Storrs PC, a Boston-based law firm, confirmed it idled about 40 administrative employees earlier this week. Most were located at its Boston headquarters, said spokeswoman Theresa Bomba.

Bomba said the weak economy was a factor as Goulston moved to trim its support staff. "It was to bring us more in line with the national average of lawyers to secretaries, which is 4 to 1," she said.

EMC Corp. of Hopkinton, a maker of data storage hardware and software, is also being pinched. Spokesman Michael Gallant said EMC has laid off "a small number" of workers in the past 30 days. "At this juncture, the reductions are minimal," he said.

Gallant declined to say how many workers were affected. But he added, "We plan on finishing 2008 with more employees than we had at the beginning of the year." EMC has about 42,000 employees, including 9,000 in the state. (By Robert Weisman and Hiawatha Bray, Globe staff)