Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.

California: Chevron is about to layoff 237 people at its beautiful Kern County oil ops!  Administrators say it’s necessary to maintain “long-term business objectives”.

Colorado:  Missouri based mattress maker Leggett & Platt eliminating 64 jobs at its Colorado Springs factory.  The factory is being shutdown by June.

Idaho:  Despite the U.S. petroleum industry slashing-n-burning jobs and drastically cutting production, the very same industry is pushing ‘lawmakers’ to create a new law that will allow them to accelerate oil and natural gas production in The Gem State.   The proposed regulation would change the way the state Department of Lands and the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission handle the approval process for drilling.   A former manager at Aberdeen’s Idaho Select potato processing plant has been sentenced for his crime of ripping off the company.  He admitted to using company money to buy cars, homes, go on vacations, send his daughters to college and even pay his daily bills.  He must now repay $1.7-million USD within seven years, as well as spend time in prison.  Embezzlement crimes are very common here in the ‘christian’ dominated Idaho (2010 U.S. Census Bureau data says at least 80% claim to be Christians).  

Perhaps the former shed manager at the potato processor wasn’t being paid enough?  According to United Way, one in three workers in the Right to Work (you over) Idaho cannot afford to live on what they are paid!

Illinois:  Mass layoffs at Eastern Illinois University is creating what I call Ripple Effect Layoffs; the Test Center had to shut down temporarily “in order to train the remaining staff in the building to assume the duties of the lost positions”.  127 years old (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) Bernzen Lumber store shutting down next month.  It was sold-off due to the health problems of the owner, it’s hoped the buyer will re-open the lumber store.

Massachusetts: MassMutual Financial Group about to eliminate 360 jobs at its operations in Springfield and Enfield, despite record dividend payouts and a 9th consecutive year of growth!  Administrators would only say that the layoffs were their way to “effectively and efficiently deliver the greatest value to our policy owners”.

Michigan: What automotive industry recovery?  Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) furloughed more than 3-thousand people at its Sterling Heights factory!  They’ll be back to work in mid-March, but only for a couple of weeks when they’ll be laid off in April for an unknown amount of time!  FCA is ending production of its slow selling Chrysler 200.     Local news are also reporting that the Right to Work (you over) Michigan government has cut in half what it normally pays furloughed auto industry workers!

Minnesota:  Richfield based Best Buy continues killing jobs, this time 24 corporate HQ employees were kicked to the curb, despite that fact Best Buy is advertising that they have 90 open jobs at their HQ.  In the past few years Best Buy has eliminated at least 4-thousand jobs!

Montana: Another saw mill blames lack of trees for shutting down.  Stoltze Land and Lumber revealed they shutdown their night shift last week, due to lack of lumber to be milled.  The lack of lumber isn’t because we’ve run out of trees, rather it’s related to load limits placed on logging trucks.  The load restrictions are blamed on ‘global warming’, meaning warmer winter temps resulting in muddy roads, which are normally frozen now.

New York:  God powerless to stop ‘his’ Albany Roman Catholic Diocese from shutting down ‘his’ Saint Augustine school in  Lansingburgh.   Church leaders blamed the state government for refusing to give them taxpayer funding (which would be a violation of the U.S. 1st Amendment).  Germany based Deutsche Bank eliminating about 30 NYC jobs, blaming new laws and competition from U.S. banks.  Alternative clothing store Trash and Vaudeville shutting down its 40 years old Saint Marks Place location.  The owner blames “perpetual rent increases”.

Ohio: U.S. Department of Energy forcing Centrus Energy to shutdown operations at the American Centrifuge Project by the end of the week. However, about 150 people will remain to take part in decontaminating the nuclear energy project.  The DoE ended funding claiming it was a waste of taxpayer money.  In Cheviot, Vitor’s Bistro shutting down on Sunday, the owner blames low sales on a bad location.   The Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort and Seafood Buffet & Grill shutdown after a long history of violating local health codes, which resulted in several customers getting sick.  In Cleveland, decades old iconic the DINER on clifton shutting down next Monday, due to the greedy landlord: “We’re being thrown out on the street! Next to my parents dying this is the most stressful time of my life!   …..This feels personal when it’s something that’s been such a huge part of my life.”-Perry Drosos, operator

The landlord claims the eviction was coming for at least a year, primarily due to planned radical remodeling of the building.

Pennsylvania:  After 104 years (surviving The Great Depression and numerous recessions) God is powerless to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ SS. Cosmas and Damian Church, in Conshohocken.   Church administrators say it just cost too much to maintain the old building, proving that the real ‘god’ is money.

South Dakota: Yes Virginia, franchised Blockbuster video stores still exist, but no longer in Rapid City.  The last franchised Blockbuster store there is now dead.  The corporate operated stores all shutdown in 2011.

Texas: Houston based oil driller Schlumberger eliminated at least 25-thousand jobs in 2015, claiming it was losing money due to low prices, then paid its CEO a bonus of $18-million USD, which was the same amount the CEO got for his 2014 bonus!  How does low prices kill 25-thousand jobs, yet has no effect on the CEO’s bonus?

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

20-21 February 2016: “We need more time to….heal…”

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed

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.”