Kutol-Chan Industries Lays Off Over 20% of Its Workforce, Claiming Restructuring.
Year 19 Day 103
The Galactic scene was abuzz over the last 48 hours, after the Red Fury Brotherhood turned over management of the old Confederate Space to the production entity Kutol-Chan Industrial (KCI). While officially allies in the Hevvrol Federation, the rival groups rarely got along. Many analysts speculate that an unseen amount of credits likely changed hands during the transaction, increasing the value and industrial capcity of the once small production group tenfold.
Over the past several months, rumors of mismanagement had spread. With dwindling profits thought out the Federation-aligned space, Warmonger Echuu Shen-Jon was reached for comment. “Mismanagement? Idle Leadership?” the Verpine responded incredulously. “All I have been concerned with recently is Freedom.” He paused. “Well I do have to admit spending quite a bit of time recently with prostitutes and ryll recently. “
KCI leadership had hoped that the change in management would bring some stability to the sector. However, as with any large structural changes, certain challenges have emerged. To meet sales targets, the group initiated a fire sale, pricing many goods at or below production costs. KCI then released a notification that it would be laying off a large percentage of its workforce. Ore-Duke and Second-in-Command Kran Chan made the following public statement, “We have been doing so well recently in the markets, but costs are rising. Why should we continue to pay a grenadier spy on Alderaan, or a foreign language academic studying ancient speech patterns on Tatooine? With rising costs across the board, our new focus must be on running a leaner business. We sell our high quality products at dirt cheap prices on the galactic markets. We have customers expectations to meet!”
Union leaders quickly responded, threatening strikes across Hevvrol and Mondress. They demanded increases in wages and stronger guarentees of employment. Subsequently, Chairman Kutol released a press statement threatening to turn control back over to Echuu Shen-Jon. This lead to a quick resolution of the issue.
When interviewed, workers in the Ciutric Sector had little to say on the strike or business in general. Not much work goes on out there anyway.