“It’s like a never-ending funeral.” : June 2016 U.S. tech/communications destruction

More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise. Incomplete list of U.S. internet/high-tech/communications job destruction announcements in June 2016:

Arizona: California based internet health insurance management company YourPeople-Zenefits shutting down their Grand Canyon State sales office, at least 1-hundred jobs lost!

California: Ebay posted a mass layoff WARN saying they laid off 538 people, back in February 2015!   Cupertino based hard disk maker Seagate Technology announced it will kill off 1-thousand 6-hundred jobs by the end of its third quarter!  Renewable energy company SunEdison continues killing jobs, this time 121 people in three locations were laid off at the end of May!  Once touted as one of the fastest growing women owned companies, military InfoTech contractor Xtreme Solutions issued a layoff WARN for their Ontario location, 80 jobs lost by the end of August.  San Jose based Apple computer “human interface” parts supplier Synaptics eliminating 160 jobs! In a round-a-bout way administrators blamed crashing sales. United Technologies shutting down their San Diego office at the end of July. Software company Veritas Technologies revealed they laid off 128 people in Mountain View, back in May! Steiner eOptics (aka Laser Devices) shutting down their Monterey location, 69 jobs gone by August. Connecticut based Xerox shutting down their Cerritos location, 39 jobs lost by August. Internet slots website Playtika eliminating 111 Santa Monica jobs by August!  In Los Angeles, ad agency 72andSunny announced it laid off “2%” of its employees in an attempt to maintain the “long term health” of the company.  San Jose based electronic payments company VeriFone Systems reports a surprise decline in revenue and will layoff an undisclosed number of people, blaming it on “difficult market dynamics”.   Solar Link eliminating 169 jobs in Ontario by mid-July! L-3 Communications revealed it shutdown its San Carlos operations back in April, 69 jobs lost. Video game maker Disney Interactive revealed they laid off 55 people, back in mid-May. In San Jose, Western Digital issued a mass layoff WARN, 232 jobs gone by July! Network and content control freak Lightspeed Systems issued a layoff WARN for their Bakersfield ops, 80 jobs gone by Xmas.  Jacobs Technology issued a WARN, 65 jobs gone by mid-August. VSE Corporation issued a layoff WARN, nine Barstow jobs gone by the end of July.  Resistor maker Caddock Electronics issued a shutdown WARN for their Riverside ops, 60 jobs gone by mid-August.

Florida:  News-Press/Gannett Publishing eliminating 79 jobs in Marco Island and Fort Myers, between July and August.  Xerox issued a WARN for their Orlando ops, 95 jobs gone by the end of August.  Call center operator Convergys issued a WARN for their AT&T Jacksonville ops, 163 jobs gone by mid-August! Call center operator Vertex issued a WARN, 1-hundred Sarasota jobs gone between August and Xmas!  Jacobs Technology issued a WARN, 257 jobs in Fort Walton Beach gone between now and the end of August!

Illinois:   Cellular One issued shutdown WARNs for multiple locations, 91 jobs gone by September, no reason was given to state employment administrators. In Vernon Hills, custom computer programer Zebra Tech issued a shutdown WARN, 66 jobs lost by August due to “relocation”.  British empire United Kingdom based electronics company Laird Technologies shutting down their Schaumburg factory, eliminated 53 jobs.

Indiana: CTS Electric Components shutting down their Elkhart factory and moving production to Mexico and China. 230 U.S. jobs gone by mid-2018!

Maryland:  Missouri based finance and healthcare software maker DST Systems shutdown its Baltimore office. Georgia based payment processor Global Payments shutting down their Owings Mills ops, 334 jobs lost between July 2016 and March 2017! Local news media say administrators refused to say why. Global Payments recently reported big profits, and in 2007 said they would expand their Ownings Mills operations. It might have to do with the $3.8-billion USD spent on taking over rivals!

Massachusetts: Braintree based radio station owner Greater Media eliminated an undisclosed number of jobs across the U.S.  In the state of Boston Weak, MassMutual Financial Group laying off at least 1-hundred U.S. citizen InfoTech employees, replacing them with H-1B migrants! Local news media reporting that U.S. citizen employees are being threatened with the loss of their two weeks severance if they go public with the plan to replace U.S. employees with migrants: “It’s like a never-ending funeral.”unnamed U.S. citizen employee to Computerworld reporter

Minnesota: The Post Bulletin laid off 11 people due to declining advertising revenue.

Missouri: Finance and healthcare software maker DST Systems eliminating 150 jobs in Kansas City!  Bankrupt solar panel and windmill maker SunEdison eliminating at least 43 jobs.

New Jersey: VALID USA laid off 144 South Plainfield data center employees!

New York: New York Life Insurance issued multiple WARNs, dozens of in-house InfoTech and Finance jobs being lost to cheap-o contractors.   NYC based animator Frederator Networks laid off 15 people, calling it “a fairly typical restructuring”. NYC based internet publisher Gawker Media now chapter 11 bankrupt busted after losing a $140-million USD lawsuit brought against them by Hulk Hogan.  In NYC, telecommunications company Charter Communications eliminating at least 36 jobs due to their merger with Time Warner.  Computer seller Tekserve shutting down their NYC computer store, 79 jobs gone by mid-September.  Connecticut based Xerox in the final stages of shutting down their Webster distribution operation, the remaining 48 employees becoming unemployed in August.

Ohio: In Lockbourne, IntelliSource eliminating 235 jobs by mid-August, apparently due to losing its contract at the Zulily Fulfillment Center.

Oklahoma: Newspaper The Oklahoman shutting down its packaging and printing ops in Oklahoma City, 130 jobs gone by September! The Oklahoman was Oklahoma’s largest newspaper but will now contract out work to rival Tulsa World.

Oregon: Data center Peak Hosting laid off 135 people and declared bankruptcy after losing a major internet video gaming client!   It was revealed that last month’s 784 layoffs by computer chip maker Intel were the largest ever mass layoff in Oregon’s history! Local news media says several hundreds more are expected to lose their jobs by the end of the year.

Texas:  ‘Tech distributor’ Ingram Micro eliminating 937 jobs in Fort Worth, as part of its $6-billion USD sell-out to Chinese company Tianjin Tianhai-HNA Group!  In Austin, former drivers for California based internet companies Uber and Lyft filed multiple lawsuits over their sudden dismissal in May. The sudden halt to Uber and Lyft operations is the result of Austin residents approving a new law requiring Uber and Lyft to conduct background checks on ‘independent’ drivers. Apparently Uber and Lyft didn’t want to comply, so they laid off hundreds (possibly thousands) of people without warning. (Uber has already agreed to settle a lawsuit by 350-thousand drivers in California and Massachusetts who say Uber never reimbursed them for fuel expenses! Lyft is offering to pay California drivers $27-million USD to settle their legal action!)  Also in Austin, once praised as one of the “best funded startups” 10 years old Spiceworks announced it must layoff 12% of its hundreds of employees, the CEO would only say “…new efforts and strategies require us to reconsider our own organization…”  

Washington: Redmond based Microsoft is buying LinkdIn for $26.2-billion USD, expect mass layoffs.  Seattle based Amazon will invest $3-billion USD in creating new jobs, but not here in the United States, the money is going to India! By the way, that’s on top of the $2-billion Amazon has already pumped into India!

Wisconsin: Texas based InfoTech company Compucom issued a shutdown WARN for its Waukesha operations, at least 16 jobs gone by the end of August.

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed