Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.
Japan based Too Big to Jail Nomura Holdings joins Credit Suisse in eliminating thousands of North American jobs, at least 2-thousand 5-hundred jobs in Canada and United States! In 2008, Nomura was tricked in buying failed Lehman Brothers Holdings and lost big-time money as a result.
California: Maker of natural gas tanks Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies now chapter 11 bankrupt busted.
Georgia: In Liburn, after 37 years restaurant Mama Mia’s sold-off, the new owners are changing the menu but swear they’ll keep the most popular of Mama Mia’s dishes.
Illinois: Due to crashing taxpayer revenues Rock Island County eliminating at least four jobs, saying they must prepare for the long term.
Iowa: In Granger, God powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ 87 years old (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) Assumption Catholic School. 15 years ago there were 150 elementary students, this current school year only 62!
Kentucky: Virginia based Magic Mart shutting down their South Side Mall store, directly blaming the suck-ass economy: “…the current economic conditions here in the heart of the coalfields leave us with no alternative. We have tried very hard over the past few years to find ways to keep our store open here and we just haven’t been able to…”-K.A. Ammar III (Trey), president
Louisiana: What recovery from Hurricane Karina? Dean Foods-Brown’s Dairy shutting down their New Orleans operation, 185 jobs lost over the next several months! Like the rest of corporate America the company is consolidating production elsewhere.
Minnesota: In White Bear Lake, after 27 years Borgstrom’s Hallmark gift store suddenly shutdown. The owner blamed crashing sales, 10 jobs lost.
Missouri: After 56 years Sansone Floral shutting down next week.
New York: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech for your demise; NYC based ‘digital news media’ International Business Times laid off at least 15 people in New York and California, without warning. Employees had 10 minutes to vacate the premises! Unnamed sources say more layoffs could be on the way.
Ohio: Proof we’re in a Depression; Blue Ash City Council shutting down the Sycamore Senior Center by April. It’s blamed on massive tax funding cuts to Medicaid/Medicare, and on the fact that the majority of dues paying members are unable to pay their dues! Services for old people are being consolidated to other senior centers. The Canton Fire Department eliminating at least 10 jobs and shutting down Fire Station No.2, due to the city’s $5.1-million USD shortfall caused by a crash in local and state tax revenues! Local news reports pointed out that Canton Fire Department never recovered from layoffs back in 2009.
Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Public Schools eliminating 208 teaching jobs due to lack of taxpayer funding, the situation is being describe by superintendent Rob Neu as “catastrophic”!
Wisconsin: Another example of what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs (REL). Texas based Superior Silica Sands laying off 69 employees at their New Auburn sand mine ops. Sand is used in the oil industry’s fracking ops, and demand for sand is crashing. It’s so bad that Minnesota based Unimin WARNed that it will shutdown its Tunnel City sand mine, 65 jobs lost by mid-May.
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
23 March 2016: “the pleasure has just gone out of it.” ” the model is no longer sustainable.”
Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!
Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”
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.”