Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
“For all you people who got RAed [laid off]. I pray for you. For all you people who found out you have not been RAed (yet) and have not joined the Alliance, and still will not join, I pity you…when are you gonna fight for your job and paycheck??? Doing nothing doesn’t do anything.”-anonymous IBM (International Business Machine) employee
Canada based petroleum company Encana is laying off another 2-hundred employees. Encana has operations in several U.S. states including Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan and Texas, to name a few.
California: Washington based Haggen grocery chain finally revealed how many Californians will lose their jobs; as many as 8-hundred! It’s been confirmed that San Jose based Cisco Systems is shutting down its Invicta Appliance and its Scaling Systems development. All employees could be laid off!
Colorado: In Denver, anonymous IBM (International Business Machine) employee reported “11 people on my team RA’d today, including our boss. Worked 12 years for IBM and recently received special awards from my VP for customer service. Our India team does not have the training or background required to support our customer’s specialized applications. This will result in GTS loosing more accounts. My spouse thinks that IBM Senior Mgmt is so tight, they will want to be buried with their money!” In Boulder, anonymous IBM (International Business Machine) employee reported “21 years with the company. Good reviews. Same as all the others. Finally got my call this morning for the RA. It’s finally my turn. My main customer requires US workers, but it hasn’t stopped IBM from trying to secretly send the work to India before (until the customer found out). Not sure if they will try again, or if they will just transfer it to another US team. I know that my team is too overloaded to be able to pick it up. Last RA hurt us bad, this one will likely drive my department under. So sad to watch IBM implode like this, as it used to be such a great company to work for. Looking forward to what the future holds for me!” Another Boulder employee said “Got ra’d today after 36 and 1/2 years. I was told it was not because of my performance. I asked them why they are keeping the girl who calls in an average of 60 days a year. All he said was ‘I know'”
Georgia: Anonymous reports say IBM (International Business Machine) contracting out their in-house Recovery Management and Help Desk functions in Sandy Springs, by the end of August.
Illinois: What automotive industry recovery? Japan based Mitsubishi announced they are selling off their Normal car factory and will shut it down in November, 1,250 jobs lost! Employees were shocked as they produce Mitsubishi’s top selling Outlander, but company administrators say their decision is based on an expected catastrophic crash in the “global supply chain”, but did not elaborate.
Indiana: 58 years old Double 8 grocery chain shutdown its four grocery stores without warning: “…got a phone call at 6:09 telling me there was no need to come to work.”-Janice Anderson, former employee
“…we have Closed All of our Stores today, Thursday, July 23, 2015……Unfortunately, our declining revenues was too much of a challenge to overcome.”-Double 8 statement
Missouri: Local news reports say IBM (International Business Machine) has been secretly laying off employees in Columbia. The info comes from unnamed IBM employees. It also turns out that IBM lost a Missouri taxpayer funded deal because IBM failed to meet the employment requirements in that deal. Given the mass layoffs IBM has conducted since January, it’s not a surprise. Springfield based Bass Pro Shops laid off ‘less than 60’ employees.
New York: Gold’s Pure Food Products has sold-off its assets in Hempstead Village, 55 people laid off. NYC based Quirky invention company warned of even more layoffs as they’re struggling to raise capital (debt financing). Apparently the company doesn’t make enough money from sales to support itself, despite administrators’ claims that it’s “profitable”. Dozens of ‘Work at Home’ employees of Armonk based IBM (International Business Machine) reporting they’ve been given notice that they are now unemployed, saying they’ve been RAed (Resource Action, IBM’s term for layoffs). One RAed employee says IBM is secretly outsourcing jobs to India, despite contracts that require those jobs to remain in the United States! However, IBM employees in Australia say IBM is outsourcing their jobs as well: “Blood bath happening in Australia at the moment. L1 manger got hit. The L2 had a conference call to let us all know, when questioned as to the rationale behind the RA he replied ‘have you seen the share price today??!’ At least he told the truth for a change.”-anonymous employee called Over It In Oz
Ohio: The two Canton Walmarts are ending their 24 hours shopping experience and will close for six hours every night. Overnight cashiers will be looking for new jobs. In Cleveland, alternative art-house theater Cinematheque shutdown after 30 years. And the owners of Indigo Imp Brewery announced “After months of analysis and discussions, we have decided to close Indigo Imp Brewery. … As many fans have noticed, bottles of Indigo Imp have been difficult to find for the last few months. … We have determined that the personal effort and investment required to sustain and grow the business is increasingly in conflict with our family life and personal goals.”
South Dakota: The Picker’s Flea Market Antique & Collectibles Mall shutting down in August, a local church will take over the property. The property has a history of failing businesses.
Virginia: Tax-sucking military ship builder Huntington Ingalls announced they are eliminating 1-thousand 5-hundred jobs by the end of 2016! Administrators blame drastic spending cuts by the U.S. Navy.
Washington DC: Too Big to Jail Capital One announced that an undisclosed number of employees will be laid off in the U.S. capital.
23 July 2015: “Now it’s all gone.”
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.”