Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
Alabama: What housing market recovery? Warren Buffet owned carpet maker Shaw Industries announced they will layoff 160 people in Dekalb County! Warren Buffet administrators blame crashing sales. British empire Canada owned Birmingham Coal & Coke now chapter 11 bankrupt busted. The parent Canadian company is CanAm, and they’re not happy with the economy: “Over the past several years, the coal markets in the U.S. have faced a number of significant challenges, including increased environmental regulations and reductions in demand due to weaknesses in the U.S. and global economy and lower natural gas prices. This environment has created an extremely challenging financing environment as the company attempted to refinance its existing debt obligations.”
California: A day after I posted that state employment administrators stopped publicizing WARNs, they began posting new WARNs. A whole lot of them! Here we go; What housing market recovery? “It’s against the law for a loan servicer to lie about the debts people owe, or threaten and harass people about their debts!”– Jessica Rich, Federal Trade Commision
Minnesota based evil mortgage servicing company Green Tree Servicing issued a layoff WARN for their office in Rancho Cucamonga, 53 jobs lost in August. It’s connected to the $63-million USD fine imposed by the federal government for ripping off customers! Amazingly, Fannie Mae gave the mortgage stealer a five star rating in 2014! In Trona, evil gold miner CR Briggs issued a second WARN saying 31 employees will become unemployed in August (their first WARN said 39 people will be laid off in July). In Poway, Brooks Automation issued a shutdown WARN for September, 68 jobs lost. In Mountain View, Alexza Pharmaceuticals issued a WARN saying 28 employees will be laid off in July. In San Gabriel, Obama Care forcing Compass Pointe Healthcare System to issue a shutdown WARN for August, 68 jobs lost. In Chatsworth, Warren Buffet owned Heinz food processor announced they’re shutting down in July, 144 jobs lost! In Irvine, Verizon issued a layoff WARN for August, 50 jobs lost. In Garden Grove, God refuses to stop ‘his’ Crystal Cathedral from shutting down, 27 jobs lost in July. In Inglewood, Certified Players issued a WARN saying they’re shutting down in July, 118 jobs lost! SureFire issued several WARNs saying 44 jobs in Fountain Valley and Santa Ana will be lost in July. Boeing issued several WARNs saying 163 Californians will become unemployed in July! Social program manager Campesinos Unidos announced they’re shutting down operations in several cities by the end of the month, 98 jobs lost. In San Diego, Envoy stated they will layoff 79 people in July. In West Hollywood, the House of Blues revealed they will shutdown in August, 197 jobs lost! Rio Mesa shutting down two farms in July, one in Santa Paula the other in Somis, 135 jobs lost! In Reedely, Ito Packing Company issued a shutdown WARN for July, 197 jobs lost! In Yucaipa, after 45 years the owners of the Kimberly Hallmark store announced they are forced to shutdown by July. In Berkeley, after 51 years the Shakespeare & Co. Books store shutdown without warning, the owner blames crashing sales. In Fresno, Massachusetts based Blast Fitness club, located at Shaw and Blythe avenues, shutdown without warning. In Santa Ana, ITT Cannon revealed they laid off 10 more employees than they originally WARNed about. Kroger announced it will shutdown its Mission Hills Ralph’s grocery store in July, 70 jobs lost. In West Sacramento, Raley’s shutdown their Mack Road grocery store saying “We made several operational changes in an effort to help the struggling store. We modified the store hours…and implemented several cost-control measures in order to drive sales. Unfortunately, these efforts have been unsuccessful in increasing the store’s performance.”
Colorado: Privately funded Catalyst High School shutdown after eight years: “We didn’t have enough students or financial support to make it work in the long run.”– Ed Porritt, executive director
Florida: God refused to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Clearwater Christian College. Administrators blamed debt and The Rapture (actually what I call Disappearing Student Syndrome, or crashing enrollment). In Port Saint Lucie, QVC confirmed they are shutting down their call center by March 2016, about 8-hundred jobs lost! In Fort Lauderdale, after 25 years the pissed-off owners of Thai restaurant Sukhothai announced it will shutdown at a time of their choosing, they blame the lack of economic recovery for not being able to break even: “My heart is broken. Not only will I lose my business, I will miss my customers.”-Susie Komolsane, co-owner
Illinois: Career Education announced it will shutdown in July, 149 jobs lost! It’s part of the U.S. Department of Education’s crackdown on for-profit colleges who can’t prove that their graduates can find good paying jobs. The University of Illinois warned of layoffs, and said employees who retire or quit will not be replaced. The Chicago Tribune laid off 25 employees.
Michigan: Hanover-Horton School District laid off ten teachers. Administrators blame crashing enrollment, and admitted they do not know how many students will enroll for the upcoming school year. Recently voted the second best coffee shop in Saginaw County, three years old ThunderBrew Coffee Company shutdown. Co-owner Dan Propp blamed crashing sales and Too Big to Jail banks who refused to debt finance their operation, his wife Elizabeth would only say “We tried, and if you don’t try, you never know. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you don’t win. Dan and I have poured our heart, soul, and life into building ThunderBrew. We are thankful for all of the support we have received over the last 3 years. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs….”
Minnesota: Minneapolis based retailer Target revealed it has eliminated 17-thousand 6-hundred jobs in Canada, 2,220 jobs in the United States, and 350 in India! In Saint Paul, after 16 years Peapods Natural Toys and Baby Care shutdown. The owners blamed the toy companies saying “Many of the brands we helped introduce to the Twin Cities are abandoning specialty stores like ours in favor of big boxes, Amazon.com, or direct sales to customers.”
Missouri: Hallmark began involuntary layoffs at their Kansas City HQ. For the past few months they’ve been pushing for employees to voluntarily quit (which would’ve saved Hallmark a lot of money).
New Mexico: A report by The Oregonian says California based computer chip maker Intel is planning on massive layoffs, causing concern for employees at its Rio Rancho operation. News reports out of The Land of Enchantment say Intel has already reduced its Rio Rancho workforce by 1-thousand since 2013!
New York: Obama Care forcing medical tech company Getinge Sourcing issued a WARN saying they will shutdown their Rochester operations in September, 68 jobs lost. Solid State Advanced Controls (SSAC) issued a WARN saying they will shutdown their Baldwinsville op by the end of the year, 47 jobs lost. HVAC maker Daikin Applied issued a new WARN announcing a 7th round of layoffs for their Auburn factory. Their Auburn operations will cease by December killing off more than 3-hundred jobs!
North Carolina: Electrolux laid off an undisclosed number of people in Charlotte. It might be connected to Electrolux’s takeover of GE’s appliance division, which cost Electrolux more than $3-billion! Unnamed employees told local news media at least 1-hundred co-workers were suddenly let go: “There was no warning at all. In fact, they ensured us that everything was fine a few weeks ago!”
Oregon: In Springfield, California based Symantec laid off 175 people! Symantec has been laying off Californians on a regular bases. It’s all part of their plans to offshore their software security ops. The owner of the 5 years old Dallas Health & Vitality Center says she’s shutting down by the end of the month. She says for the amount of work she puts into the business, and the amount of time lost with her family, she gets very little out of it. In other words it’s not worth it anymore.
Vermont: 13 state employees were laid off. State administrators reminded taxpayers that they plan on eliminating as many as 4-hundred jobs! At least 3-hundred employees will be pushed to retire early!
Virginia: In Staunton, a sign on the the ABC booze store on Greenville Avenue said it was shutting down, however, when the property managers were approached by news media they said “They’re negotiating.”
01 – 03 June 2015: “…a long, agonizing death…”
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”