U.S. Job Losses & Store Closings 14 – 15 August 2014: “We don’t need you…Go sign up for unemployment!” No more Georgia Pecans? More taxpayer swindles! Disney continues job killing!

Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

California: Disney announced they are selling off their 23 radio stations, at least 200 jobs lost!  San Jose based tech company Cisco Systems announced they are killing off another 6-thousand jobs!  Last year Cisco killed 4-thousand jobs!  In Folsom, reports that VPD laying off 50 employees.   The video distribution company was taken over by a competitor.   What automotive industry recovery?  In Vernon, maker of automotive batteries, Exide, laying off 137 employees!  73 employees will be kept on until ‘new equipment’ is installed, sounds like the humans are being replaced with robots.   The new owners of Orange County based 36 years old French restaurant chain Mimi’s Cafe announced they will kill 24 restaurants in Arizona, California, Utah and Florida!  Apparently the new hand cut French Fries (which Mimi’s chiefs spent 60 days in France learning how to make!) are so labor intensive that they’re losing money.  In Los Angeles, Amcor Rigid Plastics warned they will layoff 112 employees in September!  In El Segundo, taxsucker Raytheon warned they will layoff 28 people in October.

Florida:  What housing market recovery?  Once again, RealtyTrac reports that southern Florida leads the country in foreclosures; 5853 foreclosure filings in July!  More proof the internet is not killing brick-n-mortar business: Internet based music mixing company Myxer now chapter 7 bankrupt busted and being liquidated.

Georgia: 55 years old logistics company Drug Transport now chapter 11  bankrupt busted.  The company supplied critical shipments to hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics.  In Fort Valley, after 90 years (and surviving the Great Depression and numerous recessions) the Jolly Nut pecan company shutdown.  Apparently none of the adult children wanted to take over the family business.

Hawaii: The JW Marriott Ihilani Resort shutting down in 2016, 500+ jobs lost!  The new owners (Four Seasons) claim they are renovating the iconic hotel.

Illinois: In Alton, American Water told 244 call center employees not to make any big purchases, because mass layoffs were coming!  Company officials would only say they were crunching numbers.  What automotive industry recovery? Moline based farm equipment maker Deere (formerly known as John Deere) announced they will kill more than 600 jobs in Illinois, Iowa and Kansas!   Some inside reports say it’s more like 1-thousand jobs killed!  Company officials blame crashing sales.

Indiana: In Indianapolis, the Incredible Buffet and Fun Center shutdown.  In Terre Haute, legal drugs pusher Eli Lilly shutting down their operations by 2016, 23 jobs lost.

Iowa: In Urbandale, the Incredible Buffet and Fun Center shutdown, 75 jobs lost.

Maine:  Old Town Fuel & Fiber shutdown without notice: “Effective immediately all Old Town mill operations will be indefinitely suspended. All employees not needed for securing the facility will be furloughed.”-Patriarch Partners statement

180 employees affected: “We don’t need you to come in tomorrow. Go sign up for unemployment!”-unnamed employee relating what they were told to local news media

Local news reports say the new owners of the mill shut it down to address environmental problems caused by the dilapidated former Georgia Pacific mill and “We shut down to make repairs to our biomass boilers and ended up finding more work than we expected.”, said HR director Dan Bird.  Bird also blamed competition from mills using low grade eucalyptus trees.

The mill also owes $1-million USD in back due local taxes!

Maryland: In Hampden, Breathe Bookstore and Cafe shutting down by early October.  The owner is selling the operation so she can “get back to my roots”.

Massachusetts:  In Cambridge, after 39 years the Dolphin Seafood restaurant shutdown.

Minnesota:  Food producer Cargill continues to kill U.S. jobs, this time 169 IT jobs will be outsourced to a company in India!

New Mexico: Just nine months after getting $635-thousand taxpayer dollars to hire 100 employees, Eclipse Aerospace announced it will be killing an undisclosed number of jobs instead!  Apparently they can’t sell enough of their Eclipse 550 personal aircraft (only ten, so far).

New York: In Jamaica, British Airways announced they will shutdown and layoff 15 Customer Relations Reps and 76 Baggage Services workers in November.  In NYC, janitorial company Eurest Services announced they’re shutting down in September, 47 jobs lost.

Pennsylvania: In Plymouth Meeting, after 20 years Kansas based Houlihan’s Restaurant and Bar shutdown.  Company officials basically said their Plymouth Meeting location wasn’t worth it anymore.

Wisconsin: In Fon du Lac, Sears and Auto Center announced they were shutting down in November, at least 34 jobs lost.  In 3rd Ward, after 10 years the Cranston furniture store shutting down in September.  The owners said they never recovered from the 2008 crash.

13 August 2014

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shutdown. It doesn’t count people who get a severance for being laid off.

“Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security…That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional.”-Barack Obama, 10 September 2013