Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
Arkansas: In Russelville, after 64 years Wilkins Brothers Outdoors brick-n-mortar sporting goods store shutdown. The owners said they are focusing on internet sales only.
Arizona: In Phoenix, after 59 years iconic Bill Johnson’s Big Apple restaurant shutdown, 32 jobs lost. It’s being turned into a parking lot for the worthless taxpayer supported GateWay Community College! In Mesa, after 34 years Landmark Restaurant shutdown, the building was sold to a company that specializes in weddings.
California: In Fresno, Texas based Greatwide Distribution Logistics issued a layoff WARN, 93 jobs lost in August. News reports also said that Greatwide Distribution Logistics was eliminating 71 jobs in West Sacramento, by July. What automotive industry recovery? In Long Beach, Japan based Toyota announced they will eliminate 95 jobs at their Auto Body California factory. Toyota is moving some production of its Tacoma pickup truck to Texas. The Ventura County Community Foundation laid off five employees. LAN company Extreme Networks announced it is eliminating 285 jobs! Company administrators are trying to cut $40-million USD in costs by relying “on our channel partners” to get the job done.
Indiana: Is Obama Care the reason why 67 Goodwill employees suddenly lost their jobs at the Richard K. Roudebush VA Medical Center? Goodwill administrators said that “Specifically, the Medical Center unexpectedly ended its longstanding contractual relationship with Goodwill without any prior notice of performance problems.” They also hinted at Obama Care, blaming “unforeseeable business circumstances”.
Iowa: In Sioux City, after 73 years farm equipment maker Soo Tractor Sweep-Rake is shutting down, 53 jobs lost. Company administrators blame crashing farm equipment sales.
Kansas: In Wichita, after 20 years Garcia’s Tacos shutdown.
Massachusetts: In Boston weak, Obama Care forcing Lahey Health to eliminate 130 jobs at three of its hospitals! Administrators referred to Obama Care as “an exceedingly challenging health care environment”. They also blamed the implementation of a new healthcare information sharing system called EPIC.
Michigan: Obama Care forcing insurance provider HealthPlus to eliminate 5-hundred jobs! The layoffs will begin in July. HealthPlus is selling its Medicaid and MIChild contracts to a competitor. In Flint, after 29 years Salvatore Scallopini restaurant shutdown without warning by the greedy landlord and city administrators, 28 jobs affected. Unbeknownst to the restaurant operator, the landlord and the city council agreed to replace the Italian restaurant with a shitty IHOP: “I was stunned! It just kind of happened and everyone found out.”-Bill Nivicki, restaurant operator
Minnesota: Hartford Financial Services eliminating 190 jobs as it shuts down its Woodbury office and consolidates to Pennsylvania!
Montana: In Helena, after 32 years The Donut Hole shutdown once and for all. Back in January the owner tried to find funding to help him move the store to a new location but nothing panned out, so the donut shop was sold to property speculators from Utah who claim they will turn it into a coffee shop.
New York: In Cortland, after 181 years (surviving the Great deflationary Depression and numerous recessions) Apex Tool issued a shutdown WARN, 89 jobs lost between August and December. Company administrators are joining the great exodus from The Empire State and moving production to Pennsylvania and South Carolina. In Rouses Point, legal drugs maker Pfizer issued a shutdown WARN for December, and added that layoffs will start in August.
Ohio: In Dayton, after 23 years China Royal restaurant shutdown. The property owner blamed a grease fire as being the final straw, implying that the old buildings in Dayton need to be updated to prevent such fires. The state’s Office of Unemployment Operations laid off 42 employees. State administrators say it’s because Ohio’s economy is improving. Then, right as state ‘officials’ claimed the economy was good, the country’s largest private coal producer, Ohio based Murray Energy/American Energy, announced 1-thousand 8-hundred job cuts! That’s on top of the 214 job cuts the company made in West Virginia back in April! Murray Energy also operates mines in Illinois, Kentucky and Utah.
Tennessee: Sears Holdings announced a Sears store & Auto Center will shutdown in August. Its location, the Bellevue Center mall, is being torn down to make a massive apartment complex, hotel and smaller retail shops. At least 44 jobs lost.
Texas: Houston based FMC Technologies announced at least 59 layoffs planned for its Schilling Robotics locations in California, Texas and Aberdeen, Scotland.
Virginia: Babcock & Wilcox laid off 10 employees at its nuclear division in Lynchburg.
Washington: Ace Hardware shutdown in Mill Plain. The evil property owner (Killian Pacific) kicked them out so they could demolish the Garrison Square shopping center. Other businesses that will be affected by the “major rebranding of the property” are Planet Fitness, Manning Academy Beauty School and Spa, and Mexico Lindo Restaurant.
18 – 20 May 2015: “healthcare services for our communities will be reduced and disrupted”
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.”