Incomplete list of U.S. job loss announcements and shutdowns.
California: Despite Korger’s claim that they plan to hire 14-thousand people this year, Kroger issued a shutdown WARN for their Indian Wells Ralph’s grocery store, 63 jobs lost by July. Maggiano’s Little Italy shutting down their Sacramento restaurant, 103 jobs gone by July! In Vernon, without warning Handmade Real Foods laid off 316 people! Amazingly, for such a large and sudden layoff, there’s been no news media reports about it. Also in Vernon, food packaging maker Pactiv issued a shutdown WARN, 107 jobs gone by July! Aircraft maintainer World Service West issued a shutdown WARN for their Los Angeles operations, 137 jobs gone by mid-June! In Santa Maria, aircraft seat maker Zodiac Seat Shells laying off 168 people by mid-June! In Santa Rosa, school bus contractor First Student eliminating 136 jobs by the end of June! Solara Holdings shutting down their San Diego ops, 83 jobs gone by the end of June. Also in San Diego, used cell phone seller ecoATM laying off 107 people by the end of the month! Hotel The Declan Suites eliminating 65 jobs by the end of June. Ardea Biosciences eliminating 141 jobs by July! Switzerland based drugs maker Actavis eliminating 19 jobs in Corona, by July. Surgical glove maker Sempermed shutting down their Ontario location by the end of June. Without warning Visiting Nurse Association laid off 16 people in Redlands and Riverside. What housing market recovery? Building designer Los Angeles Guild eliminating 57 jobs at their Hawthorne location, by July. Nortek Security & Control shutting down their Eastvale location by July, 25 jobs lost. In San Francisco, ‘peer-to-peer’ lender Prosper Marketplace will layoff 65 people by July. Aramark Sports and Entertainment shutting down in Palm Springs, 68 jobs gone by the end of June. In North Hollywood, hypocritically Versi-Staff Solutions eliminating 150 jobs by July! More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise; data storage contractor Western Digital issued multiple layoff WARNs, 204 jobs gone between June and July! Symantec continues to kill jobs, this time 15 employees in Mountain View to be unemployed by June.
Missouri: Maker of parts for aerospace, military and healthcare, Machine Laboratory shutting down its Chesterfield factory, 73 jobs gone by July.
New York: In Albany, after two years the Fort Orange General Store shutting down in June, due to the owner’s health problems.
North Carolina: Sitel shutting down its Ashville call center, 189 jobs gone starting in July! In Morganton, after 55 years Mimosa Lanes shutting down this weekend. The owner blames it on changing demographics and the fact that he hasn’t been able to sever beer for several years: “…it’s putting me out of business. ….we’ve lost a significant amount of business because of it.”-Grier Franklin
Oklahoma: Texas based petroleum company Newfield Exploration announced it will transfer or layoff most of its 2-hundred Tulsa employees! Tulsa Community College eliminating 30 jobs due to an expected reduction of $4-million USD in taxpayer funding.
Oregon: In Bear Creek, sandwich shop Quizno’s suddenly shutting down this weekend. The owner blames repair bills, employee issues, family issues and the increase in minimum wage.
Pennsylvania: In Frackville, after 18 years Black Diamond Antiques & Collectibles suddenly announced it will shutdown its Schuylkill Mall location this weekend, due to a court order. The local sheriff’s department will auction off anything left behind. In Catasauqua, Medical Academy Charter School shutting down in July. The school is in debt by $1.8-million USD, and has only $4-thousand in cash to operate on!
Texas: Houston based natural gas extractor (fracker) Linn Energy chapter 11 bankrupt busted. In Amarillo, ANconnect sold-off its book distribution service, 172 jobs gone starting in July!
Utah: More proof you brick-n-mortar store owners can’t directly blame the internet/high-tech competition for your demise; In Salt Lake City, without warning Disney Infinity killed 3-hundred jobs as Disney halted production and design of Star Wars related toys and video games! Disney administrators revealed how bad the future economy still is by saying “…we did not have enough confidence in the business in terms of it being stable enough to stay in it.”
Washington DC: In 2015 I lost my job (Gateway Processing Center in Pocatello, Idaho) with the U.S. Postal Service due to their plans to shutdown processing centers in the name of saving money. Now the USPS announced it has lost $2-billion USD in the past three months! USPS administrators claim they actually saved money on the massive shutdowns and layoffs (what they call “controllable” costs), but that things beyond their control, like crashing magazine subscriptions and the evil U.S. Congress stealing U.S. Postal Service earnings (the USPS is not funded with taxes, it is self supporting) under the guise of “pre-fund retiree health benefits”, robbed them of $2.04-billion (a half billion dollar increase over last year’s pillage)!
10 May 2016: “People are hanging on by their fingernails…”
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification. I found a 2010 AFL-CIO analysis (titled The Public Availability of WARN Notices: Lack of Accessibility and Disclosure…) which proves what I’ve been suspecting in my search of state WARN notices; most states are not complying with federal WARN regulations and are not publicizing or tracking mass layoffs.
Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!
Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”
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.”