Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
British empire’s British Petroleum (BP) said that crashing oil prices are causing them to “accelerate” their already massive planned layoffs. Those layoffs have been in the works ever since BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
Gannett owned USA Today announced it is ending publication of its USA Weekend edition, eliminating at least 30 jobs. Back in September USA Today laid off 70 people.
California: In Beverly Hills, 3D movie tech company RealD announced it must cut $16-million in expenses and warned jobs will be lost. After eight years award winning restaurant Hatfield’s shutdown. No explanation, but the owners swore they’d be back with a new restaurant. In Ontario, corporate spy agency IntelliSource issued a WARN saying the will shutdown by February 2015, at least 312 jobs lost! In Santa Monica, La Sandia restaurant issued a WARN saying they will shutdown in February 2015, at least 74 jobs lost. Also in Santa Monica, Zengo restaurant issued a WARN saying they will shutdown in February 2015, at least 74 jobs lost. Freedom Communications revealed (in a late issued WARN) how many people it laid off after halting publication of its LA Register; 88. Earlier reports said only 20 people were let go.
Georgia: Atlanta based iconic Coca Cola announced it is cutting $100-million AUD from its Australian ops in 2015, killing off at least 250 jobs in the Land Down Under! Coca Cola already killed off at least 157 Australian jobs for 2014! Procter & Gamble warned it will shutdown its Augusta factory by 2016, at least 190 jobs lost (40 employees, 150 contractors)! Between 2012 and 2013 Procter & Gamble eliminated 160 jobs at the same factory! Company administrators say the rapidly changing U.S. economy means they must radically change their supply system across the U.S.
Idaho: Administrators with “the nation’s largest supplier of building materials for home building” ProBuild announced they’re shutting down their Sandpoint ops due to crashing sales.
Illinois: God refused to stop ‘his’ Benedictine University from ending its undergraduate program and killing as many as 100 jobs! In Oregon city, after four years Jackass BBQ shutdown with little notice, the owner is pissed about the lack of any economic recovery, he’s now forced to auction off his personal tools: “Business is slow here in Oregon…Most people from Dixon do not drive here anymore….We will have lots of Craftsman tools and toolboxes, antiques, household items and furniture. We have a welder and oxygen acetylene cutting torches, along with several steel industrial work benches.”-Andy Riegel
Kentucky: Patriot Coal announced more coal mine shutdowns, this time two mines will be shutdown by January 2015, at least 670 jobs lost!
Mississippi: In Jackson County, bankrupt Mississippi Phosphates announced they’re halting diammonium phosphate production, at least 172 jobs lost!
New York: NYC based bratty teenage girl’s clothing chain store dELiA*s now chapter 11 bankrupt busted and liquidating. The company has been for sale for a long time now, but obviously nobody wants to buy it in this suck-ass economy. Company administrators admitted sales are so bad they haven’t made a profit in five years! In Ithaca, after more than 40 years Manos Diner shutdown. The news was revealed by an employee. In Saratoga county, the company about to takeover Maplewood Manor nursing home, Zenith Healthcare, revealed they plan on eliminating 97 jobs and move other employees to part time only.
Texas: God refused to stop ‘his’ Southern Methodist University (home of the George W. Bush Presidential Library) from cutting programs and killing jobs. The Christian university has spent tens of millions on new dorm buildings despite DSS (what I call Disappearing Student Syndrome).
Wisconsin: Non-profit WPS Health Insurance (aka Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation) laid off 20 IT (information technology) workers. The company laid off 250 people in 2013! Administrators blame their military Tricare (formerly known as CHAMPUS, Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services) and Medicare contracts, as well as blaming Obama Care: “The reality is the competition for these government contracts, along with health care reform, is requiring everyone to look for more efficiencies.”– Ellen Foley
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.