Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
Alaska: Albertsons-Safeway shutting down the old Carrs-Safeway grocery store in The Mall at Sears in Anchorage, by mid-month. It doesn’t help sales when there are two other Carrs-Safeway stores within two miles of The Mall at Sears.
Arizona: In Phoenix, Ameron International laying off five people. Washington based Haggen Foods eliminated 41 jobs in Irving.
Colorado: In Denver, after 34 years Le Central French restaurant shutting down by mid-month, the owner said “it is time to stop.”
Florida: Florida Healthy Kids Corporation straight up blames Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) for jacking up the cost of healthcare, the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen (but what many critics warned would happen). Starting next month, health insurance premiums per child will jump from an average of $140 USD per month to $284! Sodexo food service issued mass layoff WARNs for Atlantis and Fort Pierce, 396 jobs lost before Thanksgiving!
Hawaii: After 98 years (surviving The Great deflationary Depression and numerous recessions) the Honda Tofu factory shutdown without warning. The family owners said it has become too expensive to maintain the operations, and sales have declined.
Kansas: Garden City shutting down its wellness center on North Sixth Street. The Garden City Recreation Commission blames decrepit, or lack of, exercise equipment, and not enough members who’re willing to pay higher fees for new treadmills (maybe the GCRC should’ve priced fees to cover the cost of new equipment to begin with, business school retards. Most gym members assume the fees they pay cover such expenses). In Overland Park, the Great Day Cafe shutting down by the beginning of October: “I think the landlord doubled their rent.”-‘Garrett’, employee
Missouri: In Sedalia, Patricia’s Mexican Restaurant shutting down by the end of the month. The owner sold it last week.
New Jersey: In Ramsey, merged automation companies Coperion and Ktron eliminating 34 jobs by the end of October.
New York: At JFK Airport, British empire British Airways eliminating 198 jobs by Thanksgiving, blaming the expiration of a baggage handling contract! Envoy Air shutting down their aircraft maintenance ops at both JFK and LaGuardia, between now and January 2016, more than 7-hundred jobs lost! Envoy Air joining the mass exodus from The Empire State and moving maintenance operations to Texas. After 52 years the Le Roy Nursery School shutdown. The insane New York State Office of Mental Health shutting down the Children’s Psychiatric Center in West Seneca, and moving the children into an adult center in Buffalo! Despite the announcement that the now Germany owned Dresser-Rand got millions of dollars in taxpayer funding at least 21 employees at the Olean factory were laid off without warning: “It’s mind boggling! It’s amazing that the day we find out Dresser-Rand is getting a $4 million grant, 21 of our union members got layoff slips. The company is contemplating laying off between eight and 10 more people.”-John Baglione, United Steelworkers Union Local 4601
Ohio: Lorain County shutting down the county run but not taxpayer funded Golden Acres Nursing Home: “….we’ve been losing money. The general fund doesn’t have money to subsidize it, and it shouldn’t. We can’t use taxpayer money to subsidize the home.”-Lori Kokoski, county commissioner
Pennsylvania: In Allegheny County, fabricator of engineered emissions control BCSI shutting down and eliminating 1-hundred jobs before Thanksgiving! In Muncy, Grizzly Industrial shutting down and eliminating 60 to 70 jobs by the end of October, blaming “explosive growth in our internet business” and “consolidation of our distribution centers.” In Pittsburgh, Gallery at Market East shutting down the east end of the mall for two years of construction work. Local news reports say it will impact 26-thousand people each day, who travel through that area to go to work, or what-ever (since it seems most people are under-employed)! In Harrisburg, one year after moving to a new location Arepa City restaurant shutdown, the owner blames no sales: “The business didn’t come with me. It dissipated…”-Daniel Farias
Texas: In Selma, the Retama Park shutdown due to arguments by state ‘lawmakers’ as to how to force taxpayers to fund the gambling operation. The highly suspicious Buckingham Oil Interests now chapter 11 bankrupt busted. Many people wondered why a company officially based in Texas was actually run out of Massachusetts. It’s also interesting that the founder died in August, right before the start of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.
Vermont: In Brattleboro, after 14 years the Twilight Tea Lounge shutdown. The second owner, Anneka Kindler, said customer “accessibility became more of a factor” and the business risks are now too unstable.
Washington DC: The non-profit Center for Immigration Studies says 51% of immigrants get some type of taxpayer funded welfare, while 31% of native born citizens get the same type of help. While anti-immigrant groups see this as proof immigrants are tax-suckers, I see it as proof the economic system in the United States is a failure because having 31% of your citizens on welfare is a failure!!!
01 September 2015: “There are different seasons in our lives and this season is over.”
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
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.”