Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
California: Bellflower Unified School District laid off all ten bus drivers. The reasons are convoluted, ranging from lack of funding to driver misbehavior. Iconic Colorado based canning and packaging company Ball (Metal Food & Household) killing 159 jobs in Oakdale! Company officials say they lost a major contract with ConAgra, providing cans for canned tomatoes. In Pittsburg, taxsucker USS-POSCO Industries warned they are killing 643 jobs in October! In San Francisco, British empire company and U.S. taxsucker BAE Systems announced an additional 87 layoffs for September. In Irvine, legal drugs pusher Allergan warned it will kill an additional 129 jobs in October!
Indiana: Coal mining company Vectren selling off three mines. At least 120 contracted miners will be let go once the mines are sold! More proof the internet is not responsible for killing of brick-n-mortar stores; internet based consumer product reviewer Angie’s List killed 97 jobs. Company officials blamed a loss of $18.4-million USD on increasing costs of operations.
Iowa: Agricultural equipment supplier Demco Products laid off 26 employees, due to crashing sales.
Massachusetts: Brockton School Committee laid off 47 crossing guard positions. This comes after a local newspaper investigated reports that janitors were being paid as much as $50 per hour in overtime to double as crossing guards! And despite all that overtime pay, an 11th child was hit by a vehicle while crossing a street to go to school!
Minnesota: Twin Metals Minnesota eliminated 16 positions as it moves into the next phase of its copper and nickel mine exploration. After 34 years Tatters vintage clothing store shutdown, the owner blamed rising rent, which the landlord blamed on rising property taxes.
New York: An update on the massive job killing at Time Warner Turner Network, employees at CNN and HLN are being asked to quit voluntarily, the company is offering 550 buyouts!
North Carolina: Peat moss distributor Sun Gro shutting down in September, 16 jobs lost.
Ohio: Fruit Growers Marketing Association says don’t expect any peaches in your grocery store: “There’s not much to talk about with the peach crop because, frankly, there isn’t one! There might have been a few farms down south by the Ohio River that weren’t affected, but for the most part this year was a disaster!”-Bill Dodd, Ohio Fruit Growers Marketing Association
It wasn’t just the fruit that was lost: “…as a result of last winter’s frost we lost most of our older peach orchard. We lost the trees themselves!….we lost 60% of our trees….”-Martha Mora, Johnston Fruit Farm
Oregon: Cooperative Pendleton Grain Growers selling off six AG Supply stores and one Pendleton Automotive Service Center. They hope the stores are sold off by September. Latest news reports say the co-op is not having luck finding buyers, which means a lot of people will become unemployed.
Utah: In West Jordan, California based Fairchild Semiconductor ceasing operations, 500 jobs lost! When combined with their shutdowns in Malaysia and Korea (south), 1350 people will become unemployed! Company officials say they need to cut $55-million from their expenses, as sales are crashing.
Virginia: In Grafton, after 28 years the Adams Shoe Store shutdown. The owner blamed the “slow economy”.
Wisconsin: After getting a $6-million tax break from the state, Ashley Furniture announced they are expanding and killing jobs at the same time! A local news report says the tax deal could end up killing half of Ashley Furniture’s jobs, potentially 1919 employees! In New London, the Occasional Stamper stamping and scrapbooking shop shutdown.
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