Join the landing party
Clearly, whoever it was who thought up the Independent Health Association's ad campaign -- You Deserve the RedShirt Treatment -- was not a Trekkie. Anyone who is would not be surprised by the lead story in today's Buffalo News Business Today section.
- Independent Health cuts 50 jobs
Independent Health Association said Tuesday that it is laying off 50 employees, outsourcing some technology and telecommunications jobs, and selling the majority of its third-party administration business to a local industry veteran.
In Star Trek lore, most of the characters who wear red shirts are dead before the first commercial. Wikipedia's got a whole page about it and it's a huge joke among even the most casual fans. Often, those wearing red Star Fleet uniforms are the stories' cannon fodder, previously unknown characters, usually security officers, who get blown up, sucked dry or otherwise pulverized so as to demonstrate that the major characters, most of them wearing gold and blue shirts, are in grave danger. It's a tradition that is even carried into the latest Star Trek movie -- in a way all the fans saw coming a parsec away.
Engineer Scott and Communications Officer Uhura were the notable exceptions. But they, like a lot of the other redshirts, are in "technology and telecommunications jobs," the ones Independent Health is zapping. Star Fleet outsourcing?
Also:
- Goodyear Dunlop talks extended
Goodyear and the United Steelworkers have agreed to extend their labor contract by four weeks. The existing three-year deal was set to expire Saturday; it was extended to Aug. 15.
- Phillips Lytle begins seeking office options
Law firm Phillips Lytle LLP is exploring the local real estate market, putting out feelers to consider its options before its current 20-year lease expires in four years.
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
