Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
California: A Kroger owned Ralph’s grocery store in Oceanside is being shutdown in November, 70 jobs lost. In Redwood City, bus contractor MV Transportation issued a WARN saying 123 people will become jobless at the end of December! Microsoft-Nokia issued several WARNs saying dozens of people across the Golden State will become jobless three days after Xmas. Golden State based legal drugs pusher Amgen announced yet even more job destruction, this time an additional 11-hundred on top of the previously announced 29-hundred, and on top of killing off 274 Washington state jobs by 31 December, and another 386 Washington state jobs will be killed off in 2015! Plus Amgen announced it would kill off 349 jobs in California three days before Xmas! Rumors say the drugs company is going to be split up and sold off.
Connecticut: In Mystic, iconic Grossman’s Seafood store shutdown, the owners blamed “poor economic conditions over the past several years”.
Florida: In Tampa, rumors (supposedly from inside sources) that global money transaction processor Synirverse could let go as many as 300 employees! So far the company has not filed any WARN with state employment administrators.
Michigan: Sears Holdings announced that four Kmarts will shutdown; Ann Arbor, Bay City, Iron Mountain and Warren. 265 jobs lost!
New York: In NYC, after 60 years iconic Smith’s Bar & Restaurant shutdown due to the rent being jacked up, employees were given a one week notice. In Jamaica, Aircraft Service International issued a WARN saying they will kill off 546 jobs in January 2015, due to loss of contract! NYC based HBO (Home Box Office) announced it must kill off 150 jobs in California and New York, due to the fact they are owned by the crashing & burning Time Warner outfit! Brooks Brothers mens clothing retailer shutdown all 12 of their discount Brooks Brothers 346 stores!
South Dakota: In Rapid City, Planned Parenthood announced it will shutdown in December, due to federal funding cuts.
Texas: The U.S. Army has laid off or demoted 125 people at Fort Hood! Post administrators stated that at least 260 jobs will eventually be affected!
Washington: Redmond based Microsoft completed the killing of 18-thousand jobs! This was from their announcement back in July. According to Microsoft 70% of those layoffs impacted former Nokia employees. In Tacoma, the public libraries could lose eight employees under the 2015-16 budget, which cuts $1.3-million from the library system. Strangely, it turns out that city administrators are also claiming they’re going to hire 110 people next year!
The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shutdown. It doesn’t count people who get a severance for being laid off.