Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
RestarauntNews.com has decided to charge for what Blind Bat News has been doing for free for the past few years; issue reports on how many restaurants have shutdown!
A Moneyball Economics article explains that mass layoffs continue because inventories are still too high, which means people are not spending what little money they have, which means the economy has not recovered.
Alabama: In Albertville, after 43 years the Plasticraft factory finally shutdown and will be auctioned off next week. At one time the plastics factory employed 150 people!
California: Newport Beach based Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) warned of mass layoffs after an inventory count revealed they are missing 25% of their assets, and they’re experiencing a mass exodus of investors! Huntington Beach based (but co-owned by British empire’s Australia) surf clothier Quicksilver about to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. At least 80 people in California losing their jobs. The company is now in the evil hands of Oaktree Capital Management. In Chula Vista, after almost five decades the Fun4All mini-amusement park shutdown. The property was sold to a storage unit company.
Florida: Yet another Sunshine State restaurant shutdown for health code violations, this time the Seffner Cracker Barrel was shutdown after inspectors found raw cow meat stored over cheese sauce and at least 50 roaches. Those are just two of the 37 violations discovered.
Illinois: Southern Illinois University (SIU) reporting what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome (DSS). Administrators say enrollment is down 3.9% and they’ll have to layoff employees. Because of the DSS of 697 students SIU is short $5.2-million USD. In Streator, Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) forcing the Saint Mary’s Hospital to be shutdown by 2016 and replaced with a smaller outpatient clinic. Most of the hospital’s 3-hundred jobs will be lost! In Rockford, the PK Diner shutdown, the owner saying “It’s not going as well as we’d like it to.”
Kansas: Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) done in hospital Mercy Independence. They tried to merge with another hospital chain but that failed. 2-hundred healthcare jobs now lost! Administrators warn that they might have to shutdown their Mercy Fort Scott hospital as well. Local news reports indicate that since ObamaCare went into effect at least 50 small town/rural hospitals have shutdown.
Kentucky: Cave City administrators killed off all hope to resurrect the Funtown Mountain amusement park, saying the owner failed to address numerous safety code violations.
Louisiana: The Gift Shoppe and The Kids Shoppe at Teche Drugs & Gifts shutdown, due to the death of one of the owners.
Maryland: Affordable Car Act (ObamaCare) forcing taxpayer funded Dimensions Healthcare System’s non-profit Laurel Regional Hospital to end maternity care, at least 38 jobs lost. It’s part of a bigger plan to turn the hospital into a smaller outpatient clinic (which means even more job losses).
Montana: In Red Lodge, Bridge Creek Backcountry Kitchen and Wine Bar (and only server of Starbucks coffee in the town) shutting down by the end of the month. The owners said they’re moving back to their home state of Minnesota.
Nebraska: Omaha based Union Pacific (UP) railway admitted that the number of their layoffs have increased, to 2-thousand 3-hundred! This is a far cry from the “several hundred” UP originally announced. It’s blamed on declining freight shipments.
Nevada: Former employees of the Hycroft gold mine told local news they had no warning about their layoffs. Local news revealed that 230 people were laid off back in July, and that number does not include the contractors! Local news also pointed out that the company failed to file a WARN. Hycroft administrators say they’re planning to go chapter 11 bankrupt. State taxpayers are being forced to shell out $52,062 USD to “temporarily” shutdown the Nevada office of tourism in China! State ‘lawmakers’ blame a contractor.
New Hampshire: The Vision Processing Technologies factory in Litchfield was taken over by Ireland based Kerry Group at the end of 2014, now it’s being shutdown, 45 jobs affected. Interestingly, Kerry Group donated a paltry $5-thousand USD to the city.
Ohio: Cincinnati based retailer Macy’s announced it will shutdown 40 stores by early 2016! Compare that to the 52 stores Macy’s shutdown over the past five years. Administrators blame increased competition from both brick-n-mortar ops and the internet. In Piqua, the El Sombrero restaurant shutdown due to “circumstances beyond our control.” In Burlington, after 15 years Look What I Found antique store shutdown due to property owner selling the property.
South Carolina: In Myrtle Beach, after 35 years music venue Harold’s shutdown. After 19 years the Planet Hollywood restaurant shutdown. After ten years live role playing game venue MagiQuest shutdown. Milliken & Company shutting down the former Springfield textile factory in Lyman, 125 jobs lost! Milliken recently took over Springfield and is eliminating now redundant operations.
Tennessee: Local news media declaring East Chattanooga a “food desert” as the last fruit-n-veg grocery store, Scarbrough’s Produce, shutdown. Even the property owner wants to see another plants only grocery store move in saying “I can buy the product. I need them to bring in their people to run it.” Some people blamed convenience stores that sell fried chicken (hell yeah, we humans are carnivores not rabbits, I’ll take fried chicken over veggies any day).
Texas: In Austin, after seven years with a high turnover rate in chefs, the Mulberry wine bar shutdown. In Italy, long time Uptown Café shutting down due to the property owner selling the property.
Virginia: In Christiansburg, clothier Sherman & Smithmans shutting down after 47 years of service. The owners blame changing clothing trends.
Washington: Bellingham based Haggen Foods has already shutdown dozens of grocery stores and eliminated hundreds of jobs and now they’re chapter 11 bankrupt busted, no thanks to being tricked into buying 146 failing Albertsons-Safeway stores: “They were just clueless from the very beginning. You couldn’t do worse than what they’re doing.”-David J. Livingston, DJL Research
08 September 2015: “the numbers just didn’t add up”
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.”