Thanks to trade deals, automation, and inexcusable policies like tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, the United States has lost 6 million good-paying jobs since 2000. For those laid-off workers, the Trade Adjustment Assistance program (TAA) exists to provide resources for training, relocation, and other services needed during a job transition.
Now, the Working for America Institute has set up a new, user-friendly website to help workers apply for the TAA program. TAAHelps.org gives clear direction on when and how applications must be filed, even providing a printable checklist for needed tasks and video testimonials of successful applicants.
Winkie Brown was laid off from an assembly line at Johnson Controls in Ohio in 2009. In a web video on TAAHelps.org, she says, “As far as the chance and the opportunity to go back to school – if it weren’t for TAA I wouldn’t have been able to afford it…so that’s the blessed part of this.” Another Ohioan featured on the site, Jeannine Pummill, used TAA resources to become a certified Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) after 31 years in manufacturing.
While we’re glad these new resources are available for transitioning workers, we’re still keeping the pressure on Congress and the President to make good on their talk of keeping jobs in the United States. First, we’re keeping everyone up to date on the off-shoring practiced by companies in their area by maintaining and updating our Job Tracker tool. Second, our 9 Demands for the 99 Percent petition, signed by over 26,000 people and counting, demands that corporations “stop sitting on their profits and start hiring again in America.”
Luckily, it seems like they are starting to listen. Rep. Tim Bishop (R-NY) introduced a bill earlier this year to crack down on overseas outsourcing in call centers; President Obama made manufacturing, clean energy jobs, and “insourcing” key parts of last week’s State of the Union speech, proposing tax incentives for companies that bring jobs back from abroad. The Administration has also proposed a “manufacturing communities tax credit” to encourage businesses to move into areas where there has been a mass layoff.
Tags: Jobs, layoffs, manufacturing, outsourcing
In September the National Bureau of Economic Research notified us that the economic recession in the US was over. The actual economy apparently wasn’t listening. The unemployment numbers haven’t changed. Businesses are still closing, and bankruptcies are still being filed. Cities and states are still making tough choices.
Lake Oswego, OR is pondering tough choices:
The committee recommended closing three of the district’s nine elementary schools and moving all sixth graders into the district’s two junior high schools. Those would then become middle schools.
In Pennsylvania:
West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. said it will lay off 170 workers and close its plant in Montgomery, Pa., that makes molded plastic components such as stoppers and vials for injectable drugs.
In Wisconsin:
NewPage Corp., the operator of the former Stora Enso North America paper mills in Wisconsin, said Wednesday that it will close its mill in Whiting at the end of February 2011, affecting 360 employees.
In Beltsville, MD:
Baxter International Inc. will close its Beltsville production facility, cutting 106 jobs effective Dec. 15.
The Deerfield, Ill.-based bioscience giant decided in late 2009 to transfer to European facilities the local production of a meningitis vaccine that’s sold internationally, said spokeswoman Deborah Spak.
In Ohio:
Worthington Precision Metals, a Mentor manufacturer of parts for hydraulic steeling and other automotive components, has closed its doors.
Representatives from the company on Wednesday directed all questions about the matter to its attorney, Seth Briskin, who confirmed the closure. The company, at 8229 Tyler Blvd., has been around since 1946, according to its website.
There’s more:
“It’s like any lender situation that’s happening every day. When your lender forecloses, that’s what happens.”
Worthington had about 90 jobs. The employees were informed of the news about 2 p.m. Wednesday. (Dec. 8 )
In Florida:
WESTOVER — A tomato packing business that has long been the center of the village of Westover will close in early February.
About 103 full-time workers at the Custom Pak facility will lose their jobs as part of a company consolidation plan, state officials confirmed Wednesday.
The non-recession is even affecting gun manufacturers. In New Hampshire:
ROCHESTER — Springfield, Mass-based Smith & Wesson Holding Corp is relocating its Thompson/Center Arms operations from Rochester, N.H., to its Springfield, Mass. facility, according to the City biz Real Estate website.
and
The closure will effect approximately 250 employees, some who may be offered the opportunity to move the company’s Springfield operation.
In Maine:
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s office says a firearm manufacturing company is shutting down its operations in Windham next year.
Bushmaster Firearms International, which employs 73 people, will be closing its doors on March 31. The company is owned by Freedom Group.
I keep hearing we’re in an economic recovery, but after reading all these stories, that’s hard to believe.
The reason it’s hard to believe is because it’s not true. Check out the video available through this link from truthout. The video is a short analysis from Richard Wolff, an economics professor, who has a PhD in economics from Yale, as well as degrees from Harvard and Stanford. Dr. Wolff puts the alleged recovery into perspective. There’s a long, long road ahead – unless you’re a banker or a Wall Street exec.
Tags: layoffs, recession, unemployment
This is just a sampling of layoffs announced during the last seven days. The economic recovery we keep hearing about seems to be a well kept secret.
In Trenton, NJ a notice was sent out to all 1200 city employees, notifying them that layoffs were coming:
An estimated 111 police officers and 70 firefighters could be out of jobs, while 200 other city workers face unemployment.
In Massachusetts:
A second round of layoffs began yesterday at Northeast Hospital Corp., as the health care organization looks to eliminate up to 100 full-time positions.
Corporate handed out pink slips to personnel ranging from vice presidents to nurses yesterday at the nonprofit organization’s three hospitals, Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, Beverly Hospital and BayRidge Hospital in Lynn, and two outpatient centers, Beverly Hospital at Danvers and the Cable Center in Ipswich.
In Kansas:
Cessna Aircraft Co. is issuing 75 layoff notices to employees at its Independence, Kan., plant Wednesday and Thursday, company spokesman Doug Oliver said.
In Mississippi:
The Masonite Mill in Laurel announced Wednesday they have laid off 83 employees saying market conditions are forcing the reduction in staff.
In Connecticut:
Officials from Pratt & Whitney have told union workers that the company will be eliminating 129 hourly jobs at the Cheshire Engine Center, union officials said.
In Utah:
LAYTON — Officials with Citi Commerce Solutions announced Wednesday they are laying off about 120 workers at the firm’s credit card service center in Layton.
The center at 2195 University Park Blvd. employs about 540 people and supports the private label credit division for Citigroup Inc.
In New York:
DeWitt, NY–New Process Gear Inc. Tuesday notified the New York State Department of Labor that it plans to lay off 107 workers in November.
In Florida:
MANATEE — Mosaic cut 140 employees from its South Fort Meade mine staff today as a result of the pending closure at the 10,885-acre tract.
In Nebraska:
An Omaha company that sells veterinarian products and equipment will lay off about 300 workers and sell all its assets.
Professional Veterinary Products said Friday that it had filed for bankruptcy protection to help facilitate the sale of its assets.
In Pennsylvania:
UNIONTOWN, Pa. — Defense contractor BAE Systems plans to lay off 124 workers – half of the work force – at its western Pennsylvania plant beginning in mid-October.
In Arkansas:
Fort Smith, Ark. – Whirlpool has expanded its planned layoff of refrigerator factory workers here this fall.
and
Whirlpool didn’t say how many workers would be affected by the actions, but local TV station KFSM-TV projected the number of pink slips at between 600 and 1,000.
In Missouri:
Food-and-facility services giant Aramark laid off 78 workers in St. Louis last month.
In Ohio:
AKRON, Ohio – Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic announced on Tuesday that the city will lay off 49 police officials, including 40 officers and 9 supervisors.
Tags: layoffs, unemployment
Half a million local public workers across the country could lose their jobs without legislation to support city and county services, a report issued (pdf) by groups of local officials said this week.
New survey research announced today shows that local governments are now facing a fiscal crisis that will force job losses approaching 500,000 and significant cuts in much needed public services. Representatives from the National League of Cities (NLC), United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) jointly released the survey results at a press conference on Capitol Hill earlier today and were joined by several members of Congress offering their support to cities and counties during these difficult economic times.
“For local governments, unemployment and foreclosures resulting from the Great Recession translate into too few revenues making it increasingly difficult to fund or satisfactorily maintain many basic services — not only parks, libraries, and public works projects but also public safety, police and fire services,” said Ron Loveridge, NLC President, Mayor of Riverside, California.
Loveridge continued, “Cities are not only the engines of their local communities, they are also the backbone of their regional economies, where investments in infrastructure and services provide a platform for private sector investment and growth. And cities are the wealth of nations. We are where economic recovery must take place… we are where jobs are increased, or more commonly lately, are lost. We must change that equation.”
The groups renewed their call for Congress to pass the Local Jobs for America Act. The bill would help local governments save as many as half a million public service jobs and fund an additional half million new local jobs for two years. First introduced last spring by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the bill now has 163 House co-sponsors. In the Senate it is being sponsored by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Al Franken (D-MN) and Mark Begich (D-AK).
At a press conference led by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, representing the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the groups also warned of the domino-like impact of widespread local service layoffs, saying that every public sector job lost can result in an equal number of local private business layoffs. Mayor Nutter was joined by several early co-sponsors of the Local Jobs for America Act, including (left to right) Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).
The Jobs for America Now coalition, which includes Working America, the AFL-CIO and more than sixty other national organizations, will be organizing support for the legislation during the August Congressional recess.
The author is the winner of the 2010 CREDO Mobile/Netroots Nation award for Blog Activist of the Year.
Tags: Jobs, layoffs, Local Jobs for America Act, unemployment
Municipal employee layoffs continue around the nation.
In Rochester, NY 116 teachers are getting laid off, at a time when they’d be thinking about going back to work:
Among the layoffs were 9 music teachers, 9 physical education teachers and 9 art teachers. Teachers union president Adam Urbanski said those subjects are not mandated in the primary grades to be taught by certified teachers.
“It’s really a huge, huge blow to education in city schools if music teachers, phys ed teachers, art teachers are eliminated or reduced in the elementary grades,” said Urbanski.
In Yonkers, NY the curious decision has been made to lay off more teachers rather than cut the fall sports program:
After eliminating more than 10 percent of its staff, the district will cut deeper to save high school sports in the fall.
A $43 million shortfall that forced the district to shed staff and programs threatened an elimination of the district’s interscholastic sports, but public objections caused officials to reverse course, at least until the winter sports season.
Yonkers Schools Superintendent Bernard Pierorazio said the reversal would require other sacrifices.
“We will continue with at least the fall sports program. Not to dash the dreams of our young people, so they can compete and continue the camaraderie on and off the athletic field, but it will come at a price,” Pierorazio said.
In the Lenape School District of New Jersey, some jobs were saved:
Despite issuing pink slips to more than 400 employees after its proposed budget was defeated in April, the Lenape Regional High School District laid off only about one-fourth that amount.
The change came after the state education commissioner decided at the end of June on a $138 million 2010-11 budget for the district.
The budget — about $3 million less than last year’s spending plan — includes no teacher layoffs, although it does cut 24 positions through attrition.
In Lynwood, WA the city faces a $21 million budget gap in 2011. The biggest part of the budget is public safety.
In short, there’s a projected gap of about $9 million between the amount of money the police department needs and what’s expected to be available in 2011-12. That number represents about 25 percent of the police department’s share of the two-year budget.
Those projections are sending shockwaves through City Hall.
As many as 23 police department jobs may be cut, including the sole animal control officer, patrol officers, office support staff and more, said Mark Brinkman, president of the Lynnwood Police Guild, which represents the lion’s share of the department’s employees. Cuts of that magnitude “would decimate the department,” Brinkman said.
In the city’s budget has been steadily decreasing for the last 4 years. The finance director expects another $1.5 million budget cut. Voters will be asked to approve an increase in the income tax rate, or a number of city employees will have to be laid off:
Sengstock projects that 43 of the city’s 169 employees would need to be laid off to balance the books at the end of 2011. That includes half the police force, half the fire department and half the service department.
Of course cities and towns aren’t the only ones feeling the budget pinch. A new, rather ominous trend is hospital layoffs.
In Plymouth, MA:
Jordan Hospital has notified 15 veteran employees that their medical transcription jobs will be eliminated next month.
Jeff Hall, spokesman for Local 1199 Service Employees International Union, said the medical recordkeeping jobs are being outsourced to a New Jersey-based company that provides medical transcription services.
The 15 employees were notified of the layoffs last week and will lose their jobs Aug. 14.
oops
News of the layoffs comes just days after South Shore Hospital in Weymouth announced a security breach that resulted in the loss of medical records for up to 800,000 patients and staff. South Shore Hospital has refused to identify the data management company involved in the loss of its records.
Hall said Jordan Hospital cited South Shore’s success in outsourcing medical recordkeeping in proposing the cutbacks last week.
In Hartford, CT:
St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center will lay off about 200 employees in late August, as a shortfall in reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid and a “modest decline” in patients exacerbates an already tight financial picture, the hospital’s chief executive said.
and
St. Francis, with 572 beds, had a deficit of $31.7 million, or 5.6 percent of its total revenue, in the year ending June 30, 2008, according to a state report. That year, the cost of care that the hospital provided without receiving payment grew from $12.5 million to $15 million. But in fiscal year 2009, St. Francis was in the black, with a 1.8 percent margin, the state Office of Health Care Access reported.
In 2009, as investments recovered and as hospitals slowed the pace of spending, in part by reducing staff through attrition and layoffs, more of the state’s 30 acute-care hospitals were in the black. Sixteen had higher surpluses or profits than St. Francis in fiscal year 2009, and 13 had worse financial performance. A report for the most recent fiscal year is not yet available.
It sounds like they’re downsizing in order to continue to turn a profit.
One extremely important point:
Health care union representatives said that St. Francis has no unionized employees.
In Ashland, KY:
A union official indicated that 85 people were terminated and 150 others reduced to part time status. The cutbacks took effect immediately.
From the statement made by the hospital:
The economic recession has hit our region hard and is lasting longer than anyone expected. KDMC has weathered the economic downturn for two years by minimizing capital expenditures, changing benefits, renegotiating contracts and changing flow processes whenever possible to improve efficiency. However, the harsh reality is that patients are delaying their own healthcare and often those who are receiving the needed care cannot pay forit. Unreimbursed care and bad debt are at an all-time high for our organization — approaching the $100 million mark this year, which is a 33 percent increase over just a year ago. This is a $25 million dollar difference in one year. Cost reductions alone cannot compensate for this change in our community and in our country.
That’s a stark illustration of the actual economic realities being faced around the country. We hear a lot about recovery on Wall St. No one lives on Wall St. The folks who live on Main St. have a very different view.
Tags: budget cuts, layoffs, public sector workers, unemployment
After more than 120 years, National Cash Register left Dayton, Ohio for Atlanta, Georgia. Its CEO avoided meeting with the governor or lieutenant governor of Ohio until after the decision had been made.
In late May, state officials frantically tried to contact NCR about the growing rumors of the company’s imminent departure; the answer was a telling silence. Ohio hurriedly offered an incentive package that was much less attractive than Georgia’s, though Ohio officials say they could have matched the rival offer if given the chance.
No matter; time was up. On June 1, Mr. Strickland and Mr. Nuti finally spoke — by telephone, though — and mostly so that NCR could say goodbye.
NCR is now settling its affairs. It is leaving its archives here, as well as a data center that some company workers will continue to run. But of the 1,200 employees who were here in June, more than half have retired, resigned or been released. The company will not say how many were offered jobs in Georgia, or how many accepted.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart…well, enough said. Wal-Mart.
It’s been a rough few weeks for Sam’s Club employees. First came the announcement that ten Sam’s Club stores would close and the 1,500 employees who worked there could lose their jobs. Then, yesterday, Walmart announced they would be laying off 11,200 workers. Most of those being laid off demonstrate products in the stores. Walmart’s spokesperson made it clear that this wasn’t about the economy, or the employees performance, rather, they were outsourcing the jobs to Shopper Events a company who’s only purpose is to demonstrate products in Walmart stores.
Walmart has suggested that the 10,000 employees they are firing can apply for a job with Shopper Events, who will be hiring roughly 10,000 employees to fill the gap left by the lay off. It sure sounds a lot like Walmart is asking 10,000 of their employees to reapply for their own jobs.
Meanwhile, unemployment insurance funds have run out in 25 states, which have been forced to borrow from the federal government. Several more states are headed in that direction.
Tags: layoffs, unemployment, Wal-Mart
by Rachelle Paynter—Colorado
I’ve been in Colorado for a month now. The people here are amazing, but one woman in particular stands out in my mind. I was canvassing in Thornton, Colorado, which is an area that has been devastated by massive amounts of foreclosures. I met a woman who had been laid off at her job recently because she made too much money and they wanted to pay someone less wages to do her job. She was really thrilled that people were out in her community doing something about the issues that hit home with her, and she joined and gave a dues payment despite the fact that she lost her job.
Tags: foreclosures, Jobs, layoffs, the economy
by Jon Fox—Pennsylvania
Tonight I met a 46 year old mother of two who lived in Pittsburgh. She was laid off as a welder in 2001 and has been unable to find a suitable job to support her family. Her kids have some health care because of Medicaid, but she has none. If she gets sick, she has no protection.
This bothers me because I think of my own mom—if it weren’t for the health care my father’s union fought for, she would have not successfully survived two bouts of cancer.
Tags: Health Care, Jobs, layoffs, unions
by Claire Pengelly—Pennsylvania
I talked to a man tonight who had just been informed last week that he was being laid off from his job. He worked for human resources at a major bookstore chain. He had been working there for six years and was told that before he was to be terminated, he had to train other people to do different parts of his job. Of course, this was in the interest of the company saving money on his salary and benefits. The bottom line was that money was his employers cared about!
Tags: Jobs, layoffs
by A. Mark Robinson—Pennsylvania
I spoke with a guy in Kingston, PA who revealed that he was a machinist. He said his company’s management team reported to their staff that the company was doing “very well.” The next month he came to work and noticed some of his co-workers missing. He asked the management staff, “where are these guys?” They called him into the office and confirmed that some of the employees got laid off. But the company wanted him and two other machinists to keep working for them. He told his bosses to “take this job and shove it!” Two days later he found another machinist job that paid him $5 more per hour.
Tags: Jobs, layoffs
