Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
Arizona: Local news media claiming the biggest employer in the Grand Canyon State, Asarco mining company, will layoff 160 people in Pinal and Gila counties! Asarco administrators blame the layoffs on an 80% crash in the price of copper.
California: Iconic Frederick’s of Hollywood announced it must shutdown at least 31 stores across the U.S., including their original store in Hollywood! Company administrators warned more stores could be shuttered saying “These stores should have been closed years ago.” Safeway grocery chain issued a WARN saying another 213 jobs will be lost in April! Blame Cerberus Albertsons for the hostile takeover of Safeway. In Los Angeles, after getting $24-million USD from ailing Warner Brothers, and claiming to be seeking to hire 15 people, internet video game company Machinima laid off 13 employees. San Diego based taxsucking military contractor Cubic Corporation is combining two ops in order to cut $17-million, at least 150 people will be laid off!
Colorado: Lakewood based Einstein Bros Bagels announced it will shutdown 39 stores across the United States, apparently due to lack of sales: “After careful evaluation, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc. (“ENRGI”) has come to the difficult decision to close 39 underperforming restaurants, effective Tuesday, February 24, 2015.”
Hawaii: A month after shutting down their Kihei, Kona and Hilo stores, Hilo Hattie declared chapter 11 bankruptcy, for the second time in seven years. The new owners blame the bad economy saying “…our plan was finding a retail footprint that fit today’s market, and that has proven elusive.” The lease on their Nimitz store is now for sale.
Louisiana: The Pelican State’s Secretary of State Tom Schedler said he is laying off 24 museum employees and reducing operating hours for state run museums in April. A special election is being postponed until October. It’s part of a plan to cut state spending by $61-million. Politicians are blaming crashing tax revenues from the petroleum industry caused by ‘low’ oil prices.
Massachusetts: In Tauton, the last old school silversmith, 191 years old (surviving the Long Depression, Civil War, Great deflationary Depression and numerous recessions) Reed & Barton now chapter 11 bankrupt busted and shutting down in June! The CEO said insurance industry written Obamacare was the final straw as it caused their employee retirement plan costs to skyrocket to as much as $18-million per year: “It absolutely killed us….We hung on as long as we could…it’s been all-consuming for the past year and half.”-Tim Riddle
Nebraska: After 37 years, the new owner of Duggan’s Pub (formerly Sam’s Pub) announced it will be shutdown in March. The new owner is a property developer.
New Jersey: Camden based iconic soup maker Cambells announced it will begin massive job destruction in order to cut $200-million over the next three years. For proof there is no economic recovery, company administrators say company profits have been crashing steadily since 2008, with no end in sight: “Like other companies in our industry, we’re contending with now not just the long term impact of the Great Recession on consumer purchasing behavior, or the increasingly complex public dialog when it comes to food, or the regulatory environment for food.”-Denise Morrison, ceo
New York: In NYC and Jericho, Too Big to Jail Bank of America Global Tech issued a WARN saying 88 people will become unemployed in May. Too Big to Jail Capital One announced it will shutdown its Jamesport office in April, admitting the economy is so bad it is forcing them to work “as efficiently as possible”. Advertising company Leo Burnett announced they will join the exodus from New York and shutdown their NYC office in order to focus on “the broader global network.”
Ohio: In Mansfield, School Specialty revealed it had laid off an undisclosed number of employees last week, this after they claimed to be investing $7-million into a new school supply warehouse.
Pennsylvania: Comcast cable company shutting down three service centers sometime after the first of April. Customers who walk in their payments in Dallas, Duryea and Scranton will have to find another way to make their payments. No indication how many jobs will be lost, but Comcast says the shutdowns are precisely because fewer people have been making their payments in person.
Tennessee: A 2014 University of Memphis study stated that only seven of the 77 low income areas of the city have full service grocery stores, now that might be down to six; a Kroger Food & Drugs on the 4000 block of American Way shutdown with short notice and without explaining why. In Rogersville after 63 years the city’s only furniture-appliances store, Otis Home Center, shutdown. The third generation owners blame recent battles with cancer: “One thing my father told me shortly before he passed away was, ‘Phillip if you want to travel and see the world and go on some trips…..you need to do it before you get in the shape I am and can’t go nowhere.'”-Phillip Henard
Texas: Marathon Oil announced they will layoff as many as 4-hundred mainly “above-the-field and support services personnel” by the end of 2015! France based petroleum equipment maker Technip reduced its fleet of Texas based oil service ships from 36 down to 21. It’s part of the company’s 18-hundred job cuts worldwide! Norway based oil service company Aker Solutions issued a warning from its Houston office saying “As we see it today, these challenges will continue through 2015 and possibly also into 2016.” Their first action to deal with the “challenges” is to layoff 3-hundred people in their home country of Norway! Will their ops in Texas be next? Baker Hughes laid off 58 people at its Kilgore ops. Don’t blame oil prices, blame the takeover by Halliburton, one clue is that Baker Hughes told city administrators that the layoffs were “permanent”.
Vermont: In Burlington, the owners of Apple Mountain gift store shut it down saying “Unfortunately, the costs associated with running a locally owned business here has outpaced our means. We will truly miss you.” Taxsucking military armor supplier Plasan announced they will shutdown their Bennington ops in July, 62 full-time jobs lost: “Unfortunately, economic realities in the defense industry have forced us to consolidate our facility in Michigan.”
Wisconsin: In Greenfield, after more than 30 years Naked Furniture will shutdown at the end of April. The owner says the store was profitable but sales have been steadily crashing and he wants to get out while he’s ahead: “There’s money here and there’s profit here, but the future is a question.”-Eric Lois
17 – 18 February 2015: “It’s all over!”
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification
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.