Incomplete list of job loss announcements and shutdowns.
What housing market recovery? “…under the new federal real estate settlement procedures that took effect late last year, an unexpected problem is taking shape: Many lenders and title companies are refusing to provide copies of the final closing documents to real estate agents representing home buyers. That, in turn, is threatening to jeopardize one of the traditional services agents perform for their clients: scrutinizing closing statements for inaccuracies that could cost them money or delay the settlement unnecessarily.”-The Washington Post
California: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high tech for your demise; Palo Alto based ‘cloud’ computing company SurveyMonkey eliminating 1-hundred jobs, saying “The products and solutions in place were not going to generate long-term value for SurveyMonkey.”
Colorado: Just a few days after Blind Bat News was told by an unnamed Kmart employee of pending shutdown, Sears Holdings confirmed they will shut down the Fort Collins Kmart, 33 jobs lost in May. Englewood based Sports Authority now officially chapter 11 bankrupt busted. Last month I wrote that they were shutting down 140 stores, on top of the shutdowns already conducted.
Illinois: Troubled drugs maker Abbott Laboratories about to fire U.S. workers and replace them with migrants from India: “-You have given 180 U.S. employees 60-days notice, and their last day of employment at Abbott Labs will be April 22, 2016.
-To add insult to injury, the Abbott Labs IT staff who will be laid off will first be forced to train their replacements.
–You have awarded Wipro Ltd, a large Indian outsourcing firm, with a contract to take over the jobs of these American workers.
-You are offering the U.S. workers severance of a week’s pay for each year they spent at the company, but in order to receive this severance you are requiring these employees to sign away their right to sue or disparage the company. The severance packet you gave your workers contains a full-page ad listing jobs at Wipro.
-The people you are laying off have stellar experience, credentials, and performance reviews, and some have been with your company for 15-20 years.”-Dick Durbin, U.S. Senator
Maine: In Portland, God is powerless to stop economic warfare within ‘his’ own church! Non-profit Good Cause Thrift Shop being shutdown by its owner, the Catholic girls only Catherine McCauley High School, which claims it’s an economic decision. According to Maine’s employment law, if you work for God’s non-profits you do not qualify for unemployment assistance! A local news report revealed the employees were ordered by ‘christian’ leaders not to reveal the shutdown, but the employees basically said ‘bullshit on that’! (that’s why we know about it)
Maryland: After 58 years Harbin Farms shutting down due to A-Hole zoning rules which will impose at least $375-thousand USD of property upgrades upon the family owners: “We’re probably going to move. We have to remove ourselves from what once was.”-Kim Taylor
Minnesota: Ferrara Candy shutting down their Winona factory and consolidating to its factory in Illinois, more than 120 Minnesota jobs lost!
Nebraska: In Lincoln, after 21 years Doozy’s sandwich shop shutting down: “There are a number of reasons….We have other jobs and other things happening.”-Tafe Sup Bergo, co-owner
New York: New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott hotel coming under new management, 191 jobs threatened by the end of May! Japanese company Canon Solutions lost their contract with New York Life, 38 jobs lost by the end of May. In Saratoga Springs, after only seven months restaurant Spa City Trifecta shutting down tomorrow “Due to the fact that the restaurant is no longer permitted to use its smoker on the premises…” Germany based Siemens Dresser-Rand eliminating jobs at their Wellsville factory, so far they won’t say how many. 
Reports that Armonk based IBM began eliminating more jobs, just a month after reducing their six month severance plan down to just one month.
Oregon: Pinnacle Workforce Logistics issued a WARN, they’re eliminating 190 jobs in Clackamas by April!
Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh-Post Gazette warned unionized employees of mass layoffs, apparently due to efforts to bribe (voluntary buyouts) more than a hundred people to quit have failed.
Tennessee: Kroger shutting down their Memphis grocery store on South Perkins, admitting they built too many Kroger stores, several within a mile of each other!
Washington: Apollo Education-University of Phoenix shutting down their Seattle operations, 46 jobs lost by the end of April.
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
01 March 2016: “Our outlook for 2016 reflects the weakening in the industrial economy that began broadly impacting our businesses late last summer.”
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.”