In North Carolina, Cone Health laying off 150 employees and eliminating another 150 vacant positions! Hospital officials blamed their $30 million USD shortfall on Obama/Romney Affordable Health Care Act and the federal sequestration.
Lake Erie Regional Health System of New York (LERHSNY) laying off 30 people at Brooks Memorial Hospital. 11 people were also laid off at the Lake Shore Nursing Home. LERHSNY officials did not give a reason.
In Wisconsin, 40 people lost their jobs with the Urban Day School in Milwaukee. School officials are consolidating charter schools, partly due to reduction in federal funding.
In Pennsylvania, 43 people lost their jobs with the Easton Area School District. The additional job cuts came despite local taxes being increased by 1.7%. According to local news reports, the district has a history of raising local taxes and laying people off: “The district has raised taxes year after year for decades, and for the past several years has cut positions as well. This year’s cuts come on top of 200 jobs eliminated in the last three budget cycles. Last year’s budget saw 49 teachers lose jobs, then the district lopped off an additional 17 teachers during the summer.”-The Morning Call
The city of Flint, Michigan, laid off 27 employees. City officials blame the layoffs on crashing tax revenues due to crashing property values. One estimate said the city is experiencing a 7% decrease in tax revenues, an in your face sign that there is no economic recovery. (I have recently arrived neighbors who are refugees from that part of Michigan)
French-U.S. maker of telecommunications equipment, Alcatel-Lucent, warned of massive layoffs. The company has operations in Europe, United States and China. Last year they lost billions in revenue due to crashing sales.
Telecommunications company, Sprint, announced 120 layoffs countrywide. Interestingly, Sprint officials said the layoffs are the result of improved customer satisfaction.
In Florida, Red Coat British empire company, Cobham, laying off 141 people at Conax plant in Saint Petersburg! Cobham is closing the plant. (by the way, the evil British empire is the top foreign operator in the United States, not China).
Lil’ Bear of Hanover closed in Ohio. The owners of the mom-n-pop grocery store blamed crashing sales. About 15 people lost their jobs, while other employees transferred to another location.
In Springfield, Illinois, Samuel Music shut down. The owners sold the store. They blame competition and the bad economy.
Alabama Outdoors closed in Tuscaloosa. Company officials said the lease was expiring and they did not want to renew.
In Nebraska, the Omaha Public Library says because of budget cuts they must consider cost cutting measures such as closing branches, reducing hours, opening on fewer days and reducing the amount of new books they carry.
In California, Symmetricom announced massive layoffs in the works. The manufacturer of timekeeping technologies blames it on the bad economy. They’ve been laying off employees since at least 2009. General Mills is closing their baking mix factory in Commerce. At least 33 people unemployed due to consolidation.
In Oregon, the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility is laying off 200 employees! This is the latest round of layoffs since layoffs began in 2011. The reason is that the incinerator has destroyed the last of the chemical weapons in its stockpile. More than one million pounds of chemical agent were destroyed between 2004-11.
In Idaho, Caldwell Pawn shut down. The owner said he dealt in micro-loans years before they were called micro-loans (some as small as $20) to help people out, but after 22 years of business he wants to retire. He also stated that businesses has dropped since 2009.