Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
Arizona: The Prescott Valley Events Center now chapter 11 bankrupt busted.
California: Haggen Foods announced it will shutdown six San Diego County grocery stores! Haggen will shutdown four stores in Orange County, local news reports say more shutdowns are in the works! In Bakersfield, Haggen shutting down their Stockdale Highway store in time for Thanksgiving! Administrators implied that all the Albertsons-Safeway stores they took over are losing money! A Los Angeles Times report says Haggen incorrectly overpriced 1-thousand items and at the same time underpriced other items, resulting in loss of business and revenues. San Jose based Extreme Networks laid of 20% of its employees, due to crashing revenues since 2013.
Florida: Motorola issued a WARN saying 198 people in Plantation will be laid off in time for Thanksgiving! It’s been revealed that Broward Clerk of Courts laid off 17 people and forced another 14 to resign. News reports say over the past two months 88 positions have been eliminated due to lack of taxpayer funding. Alumni Research now bankrupt busted after the state Attorney General launched an investigation into the company. Customers claim they have yet to get the products they’ve paid for.
Hawaii: Ohio based Macy’s shutting down their Windward Oahu store saying it was not worth renewing the lease. 70 jobs lost by the beginning of 2016.
Illinois: More proof the internet is not recession proof; Chicago based Groupon announced that it will eliminate 20% of its restaurant software jobs. It’s connected to the job cuts at New York based Ideel. Groupon took over Ideel in 2014. Lincoln-Way District 210 decided to shutdown their Lincoln Way Community High School North. They say that even with the 5% property tax hike each year for the next two years they still won’t have enough money!
Iowa: Chicken giant Tyson shutdown their Denison beef slaughter house, 4-hundred jobs lost! Administrators blame the drought in the western U.S. for causing a lack of cows for the food market.
Kentucky: Mitt Romney wunderkind Staples is shutting down their Owensboro store in September.
Maine: In Portland, after 28 years Videoport shutdown. 18-thousand videos being donated to the local library.
Minnesota: Blue Point Restaurant shutdown both their seafood joints, one in Wayzata and one in Bloomington.
Mississippi: In Tishomingo, the only Headstart education program shutting down apparently due to lack of funding (local news say Headstart administrators refuse to comment). This pisses off many parents as they say “We worked hard to keep this place open. We volunteered hours and hours of our time, and our effort, and our money to keep this Headstart going!”-Santanna White
Nebraska: Omaha based Union Pacific railroad eliminated “hundreds” of managment jobs, blaming a 26% crash in coal shipments.
New Jersey: After allowing ‘his’ Saint Michael’s Medical Center to go chapter 11 bankrupt, God made it official and allowed administrators to issue a mass shutdown WARN, saying 1,445 people will become jobless by October! The city of Trenton warned 64 firefighters of layoffs.
New Mexico: Freeport-McMoRan warns that it could conduct mass layoffs at their Tyrone and Chino mine operations.
New York: In North Tonawanda, after almost 20 years Hodepodge Gifts and Home Decor shutting down by the end of the month.
North Carolina: In Blowing Rock, Hatchet Jack’s Trading Post shutting down as soon as the inventory is sold: “I want to change up and do something different.”-Jack Hall
Ohio: In Columbus, after 45 years Ron’s Furniture shutting down in October. The new property owners are selling the building. The furniture store owner says they’re not giving him enough time to get out: “Thirty days isn’t enough time to liquidate inventory, I can’t do that!”-Ron Weyer
Oklahoma: In Norman, after ten years Dreamer Concepts art gallery shutdown due to “Failure to secure sustainable financial support…”. Oil industry company Samson Resources now chapter 11 bankrupt busted, claiming they can’t pay their debts.
Pennsylvania: The Nemacolin Post Office shutdown without warning, supposedly due to toxic black mold. Residents must now drive 12 miles to the nearest post office.
Tennessee: In Memphis, corporate relocation company Cartus shutting down, 61 jobs lost in time for Xmas.
Washington: Restaurant Gastropod and brewery Epic Ales shutting down in September. China (Taiwan) based tech company HTC laid off 47 people in Bellevue and Seattle, without warning. It’s blamed on crashing international sales of ‘smart’ cell phones and tablets. Bellingham based Haggen Foods announced it will shutdown at least 27 grocery stores across the western U.S. Analyst blame it on the sudden take over of 146 Albertsons-Safeway stores: “The requirements of the deal almost made it impossible for them to succeed. If you tell me that I’ve got to drive my car from Portland to Connecticut, but you’ve got to do it in four days, going no more than 50 miles per hour……You’re creating parameters under which I can’t possibly succeed………Haggen is lucky if they get out of this with the 18 stores they started with.”-Kevin Coupe
Wisconsin: Plastics company ACS Group laid off as many as 35 employees, no reason given.
13 August 2015:A “major economic engine” conducts mass layoffs!
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.”