Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
California: San Jose based electronic payment service Paypal has shutdown all Paypal users in Greece! This means that people in Greece are not able to access their money in Paypal accounts. This also directly affects people trying to sell items on ebay! Apparently this is because the Greek government has frozen all bank transfers to Paypal, and other e-payment services. Speaking of Paypal, they just spent $890-million USD to buy rival Xoom. Expect mass layoffs.
Connecticut: In New Haven, after 18 years the Bentara Malaysian restaurant shutdown. The owner said business has crashed ever since customers were forced to start paying for parking.
Florida: Leon County’s Adult and Community Education service killed off by state ‘lawmakers’ who canceled funding, at least 15 jobs lost.
Illinois: State ‘lawmakers’ have yet to pass a new budget, and there’s already a victim; Northwester Illinois Center for Independent Living shutdown, affecting 3-hundred customers! Northfield based insurance giant Allstate laid off an undisclosed number of IT employees, according to unnamed employees. Allstate administrators confirmed by saying “As a result of a recent review, positions have been eliminated in some of Allstate’s technology areas.” Local news reports revealed that while Allstate has been eliminating jobs in the U.S. they’ve been creating jobs elsewhere, like India. Sears Holdings issued a WARN saying the Chicago Kmart 5033 North Elston Avenue is shutting down in August, at least 99 jobs lost. We Clean Maintenance and Supplies has become the victim of the Obama regime, losing their contract with Chicago Public Schools which means 540 people becoming unemployed next month! That’s on top of the 1-thousand 4-hundred school employees being let go! Food service contractor Aramark issued a WARN saying they lost major contracts with New Trier School District, Wheaton School District and Edwards Hospital, at least 222 people already laid off! Lincoln-Way High School District 210 warned it must shutdown one of its four schools, they’ll decide which one in the next 30 to 60 days. Office Max issued a layoff WARN for their Ottawa operations, 108 jobs lost! They gave no reason, probably connected to the merger. The largest public employees union in the country, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is warning of massive layoffs at Eastern Illinois University that would affect more than just union workers: “Before they lay off any fulltime people, they have to get rid of all student workers in our departments. And they also have to get rid of all part-time temporary before they can actually lay any of us off.”-Derek Light
Indiana: What automotive industry recovery? In New Albany, after 50 years Fink’s Motorcycle Parts Accessories & Leathers shutdown. Sharon Fink blames the Ohio River Bridges project which killed at least 50% of her business, saying it was “Maybe a month after the construction really started I noticed as if the faucet had been turned off.”
Kentucky: The Letcher County Sheriff’s Department forced to layoff personnel due to budget cuts. Not only that but they won’t be open on weekends! A county judge blames it on crashing tax revenues caused by the crashing coal industry: “The Fiscal Court can’t afford to supplement the Sheriff’s Office with extra money for double-retirement when 70% of the hard working coal miners in Letcher County have lost their jobs as a result of the War on Coal!”-Jim Ward, Letcher County Judge Executive
Maine: In South Portland, after 60 years GM Pollack shutdown their last jewelry store. The family run business was sold to employees in 2008, but the new owners were soon forced to shutdown stores blaming crashing sales.
Michigan: The downtown Flint Post Office shutting down when the lease expires at the end of the month.
New Mexico: More ObamaCare vampires as the United Blood Services, the only blood collection agency in the Land of Enchantment, laid off an undisclosed number of people and announced they are now sending blood donations to Texas for processing.
New York: In Skaneateles, it’s been revealed that the new owners of medical device maker Welch Allyn, Hill-Rom, is shutting down factories and laying off hundreds of employees in consolidation operations. More proof that mergers are bad for employees.
Ohio: State ‘lawmakers’ failed to pass a new budget and the first victim is the state’s own Division of Aeronautics which flies politicians around at taxpayer expense. All flights have been grounded, except for emergencies.
Oregon: After 30 years Columbia River Music shutting down by the end of the month.
South Dakota: A VA hospital that once treated veterans of the War Between the States is being shutdown. The Obama regime’s Veterans Affairs ‘ bean counters want to shutdown the Battle Mountain Sanitarium because they don’t think its remote location away from busy city life has any benefit to veterans seeking help!
Tennessee: Non-profit Rutherford County Family YMCA in Murfreesboro shutting down in August, due to crashing revenues.
Texas: Graham Newspapers, which operations ten companies in The Lone Star State, began layoffs under its new restructuring plan.
Washington: The Thunderbird Motel in Aberdeen voluntarily shutdown due to health code violations and public outcry.
Washington DC: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in June 93.6 million unemployed/underemployed U.S. citizens quit looking for jobs, meaning they are no longer counted as unemployed! On top of that, the number of U.S. citizens considered fully employed dropped to 62%, that effectively means that 38% of U.S. citizens are unofficially unemployed! On top of that, in May the number of fully employed women dropped to a 27 years high, only 56% of women are fully employed!
02 July 2015: “We cannot succeed with ‘business as usual.’”
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.”