Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
Alabama: What automotive industry recovery? Illinois based automotive parts maker Flex-N-Gate says it must layoff 97 people at their McCalla factory in May. Local news reports say Flex-N-Gate administrators wouldn’t talk to them.
California: Is Obama Care forcing the Fireman’s Fund Insurnace Company to kill jobs? They issued a WARN saying they will layoff employees in July. Obama Care forcing God’s Hollywood Presbyterian Medical to issue a WARN saying 87 people will be laid off in July. In Santa Maria, Mitt Romney wunderkind Staples shutdown their Superstore in the Crossroads Shopping Center. Employees said they were given a two weeks notice. Also in Santa Maria, Coco’s Bakery Restaurant shutdown due to being sold to a competitor. The employees discovered that management threw all the employee data into a dumpster (instead of destroying the data) on the same day they were laid off: “To give everything that you have and just like that, they treat you like a piece of trash that’s it, go, you know, it feels bad.”-Elvia Calderon
Colorado: God refused to stop his Colorado Springs based non-profit poverty fighter Compassion International from laying off 48 Christians. Despite increased donations, company administrators say volatile currency prices are making it harder to pay for expenses in the various countries they work in.
Florida: In Ormond, Zenith Education Group announced they will layoff 18 people in June. In Cantonment, Marianna Airmotive announced that 80 people will become jobless in May. Obama Care forcing The Manors at Hobe Sound to issue a WARN saying 164 healthcare and social workers will become unemployed in August!
Georgia: Atlanta based global payment processing company First Data announced it will eliminate “a few thousand” jobs and shutdown their smaller offices this year! Some of the U.S. job cuts will be the result of ‘offshoring’ of those jobs to other countries. Administrators didn’t explain why, but said that despite increased revenues they need to cut $200-million USD in operating costs per year.
Hawaii: The Lawai Menehune Food Mart shutdown. The owner said he couldn’t renew the lease.
Illinois: Chicago based maker of video game devices and electronic slot machines WMS Gaming issued a WARN saying 247 people will become jobless in June! It’s the result of the merger of Scientific Games and Bally Technologies. WMS Games was taken over by Scientific Games in 2013.
Massachusetts: In the state of Boston Weak, after nearly 50 years the owner of Taunton’s Benjamin restaurant went chapter 7 bankrupt busted and laid off 1-hundred employees without warning! It sounds like it was caused by a family feud that ended up in court. The property is now for sale.
Michigan: Midland based Dow Chemical announced they will kill-off 1,750 jobs! Administrators said they need to cut $300-million in costs per year, but also admitted it was all about increasing their profits. In Kalamazoo, after five years women’s clothing store Cakes Boutique shutdown. Local news reports said the shop was empty even though signs on the store said they’d remain open for that week.
Minnesota: H5N2 causes Jennie-O Turkey to layoff 233 people at its poultry processing factory in Faribault! After laying off employees in April, Grand Rapids based iron ore mining and recovery company Magnetation now chapter 11 bankrupt busted. Creditors agreed to give Magnetation until 2018 to pay-up.
Nevada: In Reno, Scolari’s Food & Drug announced they will shutdown their Sharlands Avenue East store in June: “We have struggled at this location since it opened because of the downturn…..because of the economics of our lease…..”
New Jersey: Administrators of failing Atlantic City announced that at least 2-hundred city employees will have to be laid off. It’s due to the crashing & burning casino industry, which provided the overwhelming majority of tax revenues for the city. Woodbridge based tech company RCC Consultants now chapter 11 bankrupt busted. The company is so broke they admitted they haven’t paid their employees: “As of the petition date, employees are owed approximately $1.3 million (consisting of 4½ missed payrolls). Officers, performing as employees, are owed approximately $1 million (consisting of 10 missed payrolls), and have not been reimbursed for business expenses totaling approximately $250,000.”-Mike Hunter, CEO
New York: In Buffalo, steel bar maker Niagara LaSalle issued a WARN saying they are shutting down at the end of July, 49 jobs lost. In Melville, Arrow Electronics announced their exodus from The Empire State by issuing a WARN saying they are moving to Colorado between June 2015 and March 2017, taking 135 jobs with them! God can’t stop Obama Care from forcing Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services to issue a mass layoff WARN saying they are canceling funding for all Residences and Day Habilitation operations across the state! At least 719 jobs lost by August! In Rockaway Beach, Visiting Nurse Service of New York Home Care announced it is forced to hand over their Headstart Program to another operator in July, 48 jobs affected.
North Carolina: In Shelby, Fireside Books shutdown: “… it has become impossible for us to compete with the many shopping choices online as well as the big box stores pricing…”
Ohio: Iron ore mining company Cliffs Natural Resources announced it is eliminating 1-hundred non-union jobs! News reports said company administrators claim they must cut operating costs, but refused to explain why.
Texas: In Stephenville, FMC Technologies announced a third round of layoffs, this time 46 people are being let go due to “continued decrease in activity from our customers”. In March 79 people were laid off, and 5% of employees were laid off in January. FMC administrators say it’s part of their plans to eliminate 2-thousand jobs across the U.S.A.! San Benito Consolidated Independent School District decided to layoff 37 employees for the upcoming school year. Administrators say they need to cut $14.5-million over the next three years.
Wyoming: News reports say about three dozen WyoTech-Laramie employees got laid off by the new owner, Zenith Education Group. Wyo-Tech is one of many schools formerly owned by failed California based Corinthian Colleges. Zenith Education Group blamed the layoffs on crashing student enrollment, saying the campus is down to just 5-hundred students. I call it Disappearing Student Syndrome (DSS).
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.”