Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
Arizona: Phoenix based for-profit Apollo Education Group-University of Phoenix announced that 6-hundred additional employees across the U.S. will become jobless! This is on top of the previously announced 9-hundred! It’s blamed on crashing enrollment, or what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome. Mother Nature forcing parts of Bonita Canyon Campground at Chiricahua National Monument to shutdown due to fears of flooding. In Tucson, after 13 years the Chantilly Tea Room and Gift Boutique shutdown. The owner is hoping the sale of the building will get her enough cash to open a new establishment.
California: Ongoing oil spills along Santa Barbara’s coast, the source of which has yet to be determined, resulted in the “indefinite” shutdown of the Plains All American Pipeline operated pipelines as well as three Exxon oil platforms! The oil has been spilling since May, and so far has cost $92-million USD to clean up. San Ramon based oil giant Chevron laid off 20 people at its Newfoundland-Labrador, Canada, operations. In San Francisco, sandwich shop Giordano Brothers shutdown their 11 years old North Beach location. Administrators say the lease expired and the location just isn’t big enough. What housing market recovery? In San Louis Obisbo, after 33 years the owners of Pismo Bob’s Hardware and Nursery shutting down their Hardware store in August, saying they will focus on the Nursery. The owners blame competition from ‘big box’ hardware stores, but they also said their Nursery business is doing great because it sells only drought resistant succulents.
Colorado: In Denver, the owners of two years old Session Kitchen say they must shutdown in July. Despite rave reviews sales were never high enough to cover costs of operations. Fort Collins based Advanced Energy (AE) announced it is fleeing the solar power business. Hundreds of people will be laid off! Administrators blame crashing sales of their solar power inverters, they even revealed they tried to sell off their inverter operations but none of the potential buyers were willing to pay what AE administrators wanted for it! However, one administrator slipped up and revealed the shutdown is really about making profits for ‘investors’: “…over the last six months, we concluded that focusing solely on our Precision Power business, and exiting the Solar Inverter business aligns with our long-term goal of maximizing value for our shareholders.”-Yuval Wasserman, CEO
Florida: Melbourne based (? see below comment from former employee) Too Big to Jail financial institution Wingspan Portfolio Advisors shutdown today, without warning (at least to the state Department of Economic Opportunity), 150 jobs lost! Disney shutting down their Magic of Disney Animation attraction in July, and their Disney Quest attraction in 2016. Administrators claim they will eventually replace them with something else.
Indiana: Belgium based compressor maker Atlas Copco Portable Energy shutting down their Franklin factory, and fleeing the United States, 32 jobs lost. Company administrators say the crashing U.S. oil and gas industry is forcing them to consolidate ops back to Belgium. God refuses to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Frontline Foundations addiction treatment center in Valparaiso. Christian administrators blame lack of funding.
Kentucky: Price Less IGA shutdown one of their Bowling Green grocery stores. The store was only two years old, and local news reports say administrators refused to explain the shutdown. In Louisville, ObamaCare forcing Indiana based Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to layoff 54 people in July. Administrators swear they warned employees back in May. Administrators blame it on mergers with other ObamaCare insurance companies.
Massachusetts: Partners Health Care-North Shore Medical Center shutdown their Union Hospital, about 1-hundred jobs lost! Administrators say because of ObamaCare slashing and burning reimbursements they have no choice but to consolidate hospitals. Tyco Fire Protection Products moving some of their Westminster factory production to Texas and Mexico, at least 51 jobs lost.
Michigan: In Detroit, after 30 years Ren Cen 4 cinema shutdown, basically because it’s not worth it to upgrade for “the current moviegoer”.
Mississippi: Two employees of the Ridgeland Kids Kloset forced the consignment shop to shutdown. They’ve admitted to stealing money from their employer, and the embezzlement resulted in tax liens filed against the owner, who is now missing.
Nevada: In Sparks, after 100 years (surviving the Great deflationary Depression and numerous recessions) W.R. Adams & Son Jewelers shutdown.
New York: In Buffalo, restaurant Nektar Ambrosia shutdown, the immigrant owner sold the building and is moving back to economically failed Greece rather than stay in the United States! NYC based Digital First Media forced its puppet operator New England Newspapers to layoff 10 employees of local newspapers in Vermont and Massachusetts. NYC based aluminum maker ALCOA (ALuminum COmpany of America) shutdown its Brazilian smelter due to crashing aluminum prices. In Hyde Park, God refuses to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Hyde Park Nursery School and ‘his’ Roman Catholic Regina Coeli School. Regina Coeli School currently has only 50 students enrolled. In the case of Hyde Park Nursery School, church administrators blame city administrators: “Unfortunately, with the introduction of universal pre-kindergarten, the Hyde Nursery School and many other preschools, day care centers, and early learning centers were never offered the opportunity by the Hyde Park Central School District to provide universal pre-kindergarten to their students.”
Ohio: News reports say 30 years old pumpkins, turkeys, beef/education venue Schapperacher Family Farm forced to shutdown. The operators would only say “…our family has been asked to vacate the Schappacher Farm property.”
Pennsylvania: Pipe maker Wheatland Tube shutting down their Sharon factory in August, blaming crashing sales on a 68% increase in imported pipes being dumped on the U.S. market! In Hazelton, after less than ten years Heritage Fresh Food grocery store shutting down once everything is sold off, administrators saying they can no longer compete. ObamaCare caused a riff between the the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Philly.com and the employee’s Newspaper Guild. The employers did not want to pay more to cover increased health insurance costs, but after negotiations they agreed to pay more for the ObamaCare insurance, but in exchange there will be no pay raises for the next two years! Texas based oil contractor Halliburton announced they will shutdown their Homer City operations, consolidating them to Ohio, 430 jobs lost for the city! Pissed off state ‘lawmakers’ say Halliburton bold faced lied to them: “Just a few months ago, we were approached by concerned employees and community leaders about ongoing rumors that such a decision may be on the horizon. However, after speaking with Halliburton officials we were told such rumors were unfounded. Now, we’re told the decision to close is permanent and nothing can be done to reverse course.”-Senator Don White and Representative Dave Reed, joint statement
South Dakota: In Sioux Falls the Veteran’s Outreach Center shutting down in August due to lack of funding. It’s connected in part to the collapse of New York based Volunteers of America, but also because the Obama regime’s Veterans Affairs (VA) has canceled their contract with Veteran’s Outreach Center. Essentially the VA admitted they can’t pay for the care of military veterans!
Virginia: ObamaCare forced tax-sucker General Dynamics to layoff 137 IT workers! Those information technology employees were supporting the Healthcare Quality Improvement Systems contract to “monitor and improve utilization and quality of care for Medicare and Medicaid”. General Dynamics lost the contract.
Wyoming: The county of Sheridan eliminated 14 jobs due to lack of money. County administrators admitted they overestimated how much revenue they would get from mining ops.
29 June 2015: “I’m not going…to retire, I’m just going to close the store.”
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.”