By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The first of 100 Cincinnati Machine employees, told two months ago that their jobs were being eliminated, left the Oakley machine tool company Friday.

The cuts are the first part of a restructuring announced in October by the unit of Unova Inc. and are the latest in a wave of pre-holiday job cuts by Cincinnati companies.

They include:

Sears, Roebuck & Co., which Thursday said it was phasing out its industrial tool sales and warehouse in Blue Ash, eliminating 200 jobs. The shutdown takes effect early next year.

Cincinnati Bell Inc., which cut 51 management and hourly jobs this week. That's in addition to 500 jobs that parent Broadwing Inc. is cutting from its national broadband business.

Convergys Corp., the billing and customer care provider, trimmed 99 management and administrative jobs in Greater Cincinnati this week. They are the first of 950 jobs the company announced earlier that it plans to cut worldwide through the end of 2003 in a restructuring.

The cuts don't include reductions in the company's global network of call center agents. Convergys employs about 44,000 worldwide.

The reductions are a sore point with some employees because they come as the company is expanding operations at its new call center in India.

Vege Manufacturing Co., an Erlanger engine remanufacturer, closed in November, eliminating more than 100 jobs.

Sun Chemical Co. recently cut 35 management-level jobs at its Spring Grove Avenue-based colors group.

Chiquita Brands International Inc. is cutting 32 jobs from its Cincinnati operations.

Losing a job around Christmastime is particularly bitter for those affected but increasingly common, said John Challenger, CEO of national outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

"In times past, companies tried to avoid terminating people after Thanksgiving," he said.

Typically, the last month of the year was a slow period, but now, he says, "A company can't afford to have a bad December."

The pressure from investors and the need to meet annual revenue and earnings targets forces companies to make job cuts year-end to meet expectations, he said.

The Cincinnati Machine cuts represent about 13 percent of the long-time machine-tool builder's Greater Cincinnati employment.

Thirty-eight employees, who were given 60-day notices in October, left the company Friday. Another 62 workers across all departments were given 60-day notices this week.

Under the restructuring, Cincinnati Machine's headquarters will be merged in the Detroit area. The company will vacate the historic Oakley manufacturing complex it now occupies and is seeking a smaller, 200,000-square-foot plant in Greater Cincinnati for a new aerospace technology center to produce high-tech machines.

The company said it is evaluating three sites but declined to identify them.

E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com.