Closures & Layoffs (Jan. 18-24); After Holiday Retail Layoffs Begin
A Weekly Report on Future Corporate Downsizings
In this week's issue:
* Retail shutdowns advance after dismal holiday sales.
* Plus, a whole new round of major U.S. corporation closures and layoffs were announced in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Download Closures & Layoffs and all these stories in Adobe pdf format here. The pdf version also includes all of this week’s Watch List stories and properties, plus bonus news items not found in these columns or the CoStar Group web news pages.
Clarification
An item in the Dec. 15 Closures & Layoffs regarding Vertis Communications is closing down and laying off staff in San Leandro, CA, was a year old. No new layoffs are planned for that location this year.
Retail Shutdowns Advance After Dismal Holiday Sales
There has been a notable slate of retail downsizings announced in the past week. These and so much more retail new would normally be covered by Sasha Pardy in her weekly CoStar Retail Roundup. However, she has been on vacation, so until her return next week, we wanted to make sure you did not miss these closures and layoffs.
Charming Shoppes Inc. , a multi-brand apparel retailer specializing in women's plus-size apparel, announced further reductions in its workforce of approximately 225 positions, which primarily represent associate separations, as well as the elimination of open positions, at the company's corporate support and brand headquarters offices in Bensalem, PA.
Circuit City Stores Inc. has begun liquidating its remaining 567 U.S. stores and laying off 30,000 employees after being unable to find a buyer, refinance its debt or negotiate an extension of credit from wary vendors. Richmond, VA-based Circuit City, the nation's second-largest electronics retailer behind Best Buy Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 10 and has already closed 155 stores in the last two months. James A. Marcum, vice chairman and acting president and CEO, confirmed the worst -- that the company had been unable to reach a deal and will have to liquidate the stores and up to $1.3 billion in inventory by the end of the quarter. A bankruptcy judge approved the request Friday afternoon.
Cost Plus Inc. in Oakland announced steps to rationalize operations by reducing
home office and distribution center staff by 18% and will implement a number of additional new cost reduction initiatives. The eight media markets the Company plans to exit include: Cincinnati OH, Fort Lauderdale FL, Fort Wayne IN, Memphis TN, Minneapolis-St. Paul MN, Rochester MN, Omaha NE, and Rockford IL. Individual stores to be closed include:
* Mesa (1349 Alma School Road Mesa, AZ),
* Ontario (4421 Mills Circle Ontario, CA),
* Vallejo (105 Plaza Drive Vallejo, CA),
* Pembroke Pines (11960 Pines Blvd. Pembroke Pines, FL),
* Stonecrest (8140 Mall Pkwy Lithonia, GA),
* Fayetteville (240 Pavilion Pkwy Fayetteville, GA),
* Hoffman Estates (2780 Sutton Road Hoffman Estates, IL),
* Rockford (6650 East State St. Rockford, IL),
* Fort Wayne (4310 Coldwater Road Fort Wayne, IN),
* Germantown (20904 Frederick Road Germantown, MD),
* Bloomington (4250 West 78th St. Bloomington, MN),
* Maple Grove (12209 Elm Creek Blvd Maple Grove, MN),
* Minnetonka (11240 Wayzata Blvd. Minnetonka, MN),
* Rochester (1200 16th St. SW Rochester, MN),
* Roseville (2401 Fairview Ave., North Roseville, MN),
* Woodbury (8268 Tamarack Village Woodbury, MN),
* Southaven (6535 Towne Center Crossing Southaven, MS),
* Omaha (201 North 78th St. Omaha, NE),
* Papillion (7549 Towne Centre Pkwy Papillion, NE),
* West Omaha (17101 Davenport St. Omaha, NE),
* Western Hills (5555 Glenway Ave. Cincinnati, OH),
* Tri-County (11747 Princeton Pike Springdale, OH),
* Kenwood (8121 Montgomery Road Cincinnati, OH),
* Collierville (4600 Merchants Park Circle Collierville, TN),
* Market at Wolfcreek (2825 N. Germantown Pkwy Memphis, TN), and
* Tysons Corner (2051 Chain Bridge Road Vienna, VA).
Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. plans to consolidate the operations of its Eldred upholstery manufacturing plant at 3289 Route 446 and several of its retail service centers. Business currently serviced by the Eldred Pennsylvania facility will be transferred to the company's facilities in North Carolina and California, and the company plans to expand the production in those facilities. Business currently served by the retail service centers will be transferred to other company locations serving the same general market areas. The company owns the real estate associated with the plant in Eldred. The retail service centers that are being consolidated will be relocated to larger facilities most of which are owned by the company. These consolidations impact about 350 employees.
Gottschalks Inc. based in Fresno, CA, filed a voluntary petition for reorganization relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The company will be pursuing a sale of the retailer's operations. Gottschalks is a regional chain, currently operating 58 department stores and three specialty apparel stores in California (38), Washington (seven), Alaska (five), Oregon (five), Nevada (one) and Idaho (two).
J.C. Penney said it plans to close its Carmichael, CA, call center at 5949 Fair Oaks Blvd. and lay off 260 employees. The closing will be effective March 20.
Macy's announced that is closing 11 stores, which affect more than 900 employees in nine states, are part of a normal pruning process rather than the department store's struggles. The following stores are scheduled to close:
* Ernst & Young Plaza (Citicorp Plaza), Los Angeles
* The Citadel, Colorado Springs
* Westminster Mall, Westminster, CO
* Palm Beach Mall, West Palm Beach, FL
* Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, Island of Hawaii
* Lafayette Square, Indianapolis, IN
* Brookdale Center, Brooklyn Center, MN
* Crestwood Mall, St. Louis, MO
* Natrona Heights Plaza, Natrona Heights, PA
* Century III Furniture and Clearance, West Mifflin, PA
* Bellevue Center, Nashville, TN
New York & Company Inc. , a specialty apparel chain with 600 retail stores, launched a multi-year restructuring and cost reduction program. The key components of the restructuring and cost reduction program include: staff downsizing resulting in a permanent reduction of 12% of the company's field management (260 people) and approximately a 10% reduction of corporate office professionals (50 people); the optimization of the company's store portfolio, including the closure of 40 to 50 underperforming stores over a 5-year period; and it plans to limit new store openings this year.
Saks Inc. said it plans to cut 1,100 corporate support and store positions, equating to approximately 9% of its total workforce (in addition to the previously announced reduction-in-force related to discontinuation of the Club Libby Lu business). It is also eliminating 2009 merit-based wage increases for the entire workforce, suspending of 401(k) matching contributions for a minimum of one year, and suspending future benefit accruals for the limited number of associates remaining in the company's pension plan. The majority of affected associates will be notified shortly, and most position eliminations will be effective by Jan. 30.
(Andrew C. Burr and Randyl Drummer contributed to this report).
This story is excerpted from the Watch List Newsletter. Download the current Watch List in Adobe pdf format here. The Watch List Newsletter is a powerful one-two-combination of both top-down macro analysis and bottom up micro real estate news, as well as valuable leads about companies contracting, future space availability and distressed property and loan investment opportunities. The Watch List Newsletter also includes all of this week’s Closures & Layoffs, plus bonus news items not found in these columns or the CoStar Group web news pages.
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Closures & Layoffs
Nationwide
* Advanced Micro Devices Inc. plans to cut 1,100 jobs and reduce salaries. The job cuts will reduce its product company workforce, excluding foundry workers, by 9% and will come from attrition, divesting its handheld business, and the elimination of another 900 positions.
* AK Steel in West Chester, OH, is implementing a salaried workforce layoff. AK Steel currently employs about 1,500 salaried employees. The layoffs will likely affect salaried employees in all of the company's plants and offices. While the company said it hopes the layoffs are temporary, a continuation of the economic downturn could result in some or all of the layoffs becoming permanent job reductions.
* Alcoa Inc. plans to cut 13,500 jobs, or 13% of its salaried workforce and 1,700 contractors, and slash spending and output to cope with the global economic slowdown. The Pittsburgh-based company said approximately 260 will be corporate staff. The cuts are part of a broad-based plan to reduce costs that includes the planned sale of four business units and a global salary and hiring freeze.
* Apartment Investment and Management Co. (Aimco) in Denver plans to reduce the scale and scope of its activities and will reduce its workforce by approximately 7%, reduce related workforce costs, and write-off costs deferred in connection with abandoned activities, including certain redevelopment projects and business pursuit costs. AIMCO has approximately 5,900 employees, of which approximately 4,400 are at the property level.
* Autodesk Inc. in San Rafael, CA, plans to reduce its workforce by 750 employees, representing approximately 10% of the company's global workforce. The company also plans to consolidate certain facilities. In addition, Autodesk has signed a definitive agreement to spin out its Location Services business to Hale Capital Partners, a private equity firm.
* Avago Technologies Finance in San Jose, CA, will consolidate its worldwide workforce, reducing the number of employees by approximately 230, or about 6% of total headcount.
* Building Materials Holding Corp. will close all of its operations in Northern Nevada, including Reno (650 Innovation Drive) and Sparks (2272 Larkin Circle) facilities. In Oregon, the company will consolidate its greater Portland market operations to its Vancouver, WA facility, closing the Sherwood site at 20285 SW Cipole Road. In California, BMHC will consolidate its lumber and building materials distribution and wall panel manufacturing operations into its existing Modesto, CA, facilities and close down at 4083 Rancho Road in Marysville. Other operational consolidations will occur in Texas, Colorado and Arizona. These closures and consolidations are expected to be substantially completed during the first quarter of 2009. Approximately 260 employees in total are expected to be affected by these actions.
* Cigna, a Philadelphia-based insurer, is planning to reduce its global workforce by approximately 1,100 positions, around 4% of the company's employees, and will consolidate certain real estate locations. The job eliminations are anticipated to be in large part complete by mid-year 2009.
* ConocoPhillips expects to reduce about 4% of our overall employee workforce. This reduction does not include any impact from asset sales.
* Cummins Inc. in Columbus, IN, will reduce its permanent professional workforce worldwide by at least 800 employees by the end of February and freeze salaries for the year. As part of the latest reductions, the company will offer a second voluntary retirement package to certain active professional employees in the United States. The remainder of the reductions will result from involuntary terminations from Cummins' operations around the world. The company also will reduce the salaries of its officers by 10% for 2009. In addition, Cummins will continue to monitor production volumes at individual manufacturing plants and take whatever actions are necessary as dictated by customer demand for its products.
* Ecolab Inc. in St. Paul, MN, plans to undertake restructuring and other cost-saving actions as it streamlines and improves its global business. The changes include a reduction of the company's global workforce by approximately 1,000 positions, or 4 and the closure of two small non-strategic health care businesses and the write down of investments in an energy management business.
* EMC Corp. based in Hopkinton, MA, plans to reduce its workforce by 7% as the data-storage firm looks to cut costs amid the challenging global economic climate. The company will cut 2,400 positions as part of an effort to reduce costs by about $350 million in 2009 and $500 million in 2010. The restructuring plan will streamline costs to its information infrastructure business but does not include VMware Inc.
* Google is winding down almost all its contracts with external contractors and vendors providing recruiting services and will also be reducing the overall size of its in-house recruiting organization by approximately 100 positions. In addition, the search engine giant is asking engineers in Austin, TX, to move to other offices. It is doing the same in Norway and Sweden. The requests affect 70 engineers.
* Hertz Global Holdings Inc. is reducing its global workforce by more than 4,000 employees. The cost reductions are attributable to reduced rental demand and Hertz continues to reengineer work processes using Lean Sigma techniques to drive efficiencies. There will be job reductions in the car and equipment rental businesses, corporate and support areas, and in all geographies, with an emphasis on eliminating non-customer facing jobs.
* In addition to the workforce reductions, each company continues to implement a variety of measures to conserve cash, consolidate functions and become more operationally efficient.
* Intermec Inc. in Everett, WA, expects to reduce its global workforce by approximately 150 full-time positions or 7%.
* Kennametal Inc. in Latrobe, PA, is reducing its global salaried workforce by approximately 800 positions which is expected to generate annual pre-tax savings of approximately $70 million. These employment reductions will be completed within the next three to six months. In total, the new workforce reductions, together with the previously announced restructuring is expected to reduce workforce of approximately 1,200 positions. The total pre-tax charges expected to be recognized are estimated to be approximately $90 million, including approximately $27 million recorded through the December 2008 quarter.
* Logitech International SA, the biggest maker of computer mice, will cut 15% of its non- manufacturing jobs. The Fremont, CA-based company said the cuts would be global.
* MeadWestvaco Corp. in Richmond, VA, plans to close or restructure 12-14 manufacturing locations, creating a savings of $25 million, for a total of $125 million in pre-tax savings during the year. This will result in the elimination of approximately 2,000 positions, or 10% of MWV's global workforce, by year end with approximately 800 of the reductions expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter. The manufacturing-related reductions will include savings from facility restructurings and closures, including the previously announced closure of packaging converting operations at 790 N Battleground Ave. in Grover, NC. The company has also implemented salaried workforce reductions at 101 Oneil Road in Sidney, NY, its consumer & office products facility.
* Motorola Inc. in Schaumburg, IL, is cutting jobs primarily within its Mobile Devices business. Motorola will reduce its workforce in 2009 by approximately 4,000 positions. This reduction will include approximately 3,000 positions associated with the Mobile Devices business and approximately 1,000 positions associated with corporate functions and other business units. The workforce reductions announced today are expected to begin immediately and are incremental to the 3,000 workforce reduction actions previously announced during the fourth quarter of 2008.
* ON Semiconductor Corp. based in Phoenix, AZ, plans to lay off 1,500 workers, eliminate second-half 2008 and full-year 20009 bonuses, freeze hiring and implement three weeks of unpaid time off for senior executives in both the first and second quarter. Other employees will receive two weeks of unpaid time off or a four-day work week. The company will also temporarily shut down plants for four to six weeks in the first half of the year, move up planned factory closings to the middle of the year and will look to close an additional location by the end of 2009.
* Opus Group, a group of independent companies providing real estate development services based in Minneapolis, is eliminating approximately 200 positions nationwide as a result of deteriorating market and economic conditions in the commercial real estate development industry. The workforce reductions are occurring in all five independent operating companies. Some geographical locations are affected more than others.
* Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drug company, is laying off up to 800 scientists this year in its latest effort to refocus disappointing research. New York-based Pfizer plans to reduce its global research staff -- currently about 10,000 people -- by 5% to 8% this year.
* Seagate Technology replaced its top two executives and plans to cut 2,950 jobs, including about 800 jobs or 10% of its U.S. workforce and in total. The Scotts Valley, CA-based company expects to complete the cuts largely by the end of the March.
* SMSC, a semiconductor company in Hauppauge, NY, will be reducing its worldwide personnel by 5 to 10%, including a voluntary retirement incentive for most employees 55 years of age and older.
* TTM Technologies Inc. plans to close its Redmond facility and lay off approximately 370 employees at 17550 NE 67th Court. In addition, TTM will lay off about 140 employees at various other U.S. facilities.
* Varian Inc. in Palo Alto, CA, plans to eliminate approximately 240 regular employee and 80 temporary positions and to close certain facilities. To be closed is a small R&D/manufacturing facility at 28 Rancho Circle in Lake Forest, CA.
* WellPoint Inc. in Indianapolis, IN, is eliminating approximately 1,500 positions. This includes the elimination of more than 900 open positions.
California
* BRE Properties Inc. in San Francisco is decelerating its development program and reducing its workforce accordingly. The company will no longer continue predevelopment activities with respect to three sites under option agreements or letters of intent. Last week, the company notified 33 employees that their positions had been eliminated.
* Facet Biotech Corp. in Redwood City, CA, will restructure to narrow its focus and significantly reduce its operating costs. Facet Biotech will reduce its workforce by approximately 80 positions which, together with previously announced reductions, will bring its workforce to a total of approximately 200 positions. While the workforce reductions will take place across the organization, the company will maintain core competencies in the research, development and product operations areas in order to support its current pipeline of four clinical stage products, to advance its later stage preclinical assets, and to maximize the opportunities for its proprietary antibody engineering technologies. Moving forward, the company intends to concentrate its research and development efforts on oncology drug candidates. In addition, the company plans to consolidate its operations into one of the two leased buildings at its Redwood City headquarters at 1400 Seaport Blvd.
* Oberthur Technologies plans to transfer its card manufacturing operation at 3150 E. Ana St. in Rancho Dominguez, CA, to an expanded facility in Exton, PA, which will boast a 20% increase in overall production capabilities. Card manufacturing will cease in the Los Angeles area by the end of March, however, Oberthur Technologies will continue to use the facility to increase its card personalization capabilities.
* Sperry Van Ness -Southern California will consolidate six area offices into its West Los Angeles office. This is in addition to phasing out two small Los Angeles-area offices and a Scottsdale, AZ. office in 2008. The Southern California offices are part of a portfolio of franchise offices purchased in 2008 by Portland, OR.-based Guardian Management LLC.
* Superior Industries International Inc. plans to close its wheel manufacturing facility in Van Nuys at 7800 Woodley Ave, that will result in a lay off of approximately 290 employees
* Tenet Healthcare Corp. plans to close Community Hospital of Los Gatos, including its emergency room, on April 10. HCP Inc., a real estate investment trust in Long Beach, CA, owns the real estate. El Camino Hospital has agreed to acquire the real estate and certain other assets from HCP.
California, New York
* DeVry Inc., a provider of educational services, signed a lease on a new location in Long Beach, CA, and entered into an agreement to buy out of a portion of its lease at DeVry University's Long Island City, NY, campus. As part of its real estate optimization in the Southern California market, DeVry University will relocate from its current location of approximately 100,000 square feet in Long Beach to a nearby 47,500 square-foot space in Douglas Park, a new development near the Long Beach Airport and the 405 Freeway. The campus is scheduled for completion in March 2010. At its Long Island City campus, DeVry University will buy out the lease on approximately 40% of the space it occupies.
Illinois, New York
* B.R. Guest LLC is closing four locations: Blue Water Grill at 520 N. Dearborn St. in Chicago, IL and Ruby Foo's at 2182 Broadway on the Upper West Side in New York, NY, both of whose leases were set to expire early this spring; Fiamma at 206 Spring St. in New York, which will become a full-service event space for private functions; and Level V at 675 Hudson St in New York, which will be rebranded and reopened this spring.
Indiana
* Fortis Plastics LLC, a diversified custom molding supplier for the appliance, furniture, building products, industrial, automotive and medical device industries, is reviewing several possible strategic options that will allow it to consolidate its operations.= The company has already decided to consolidate the majority of its operations in Elkhart, IN, into a single location. Potential sites include a Fortis-owned facility in South Bend as well as locations in other states. The Fortis-owned Elkhart facility is expected to serve in a distribution capacity with the potential of restarting manufacturing operations in the future.
Iowa
* Sealed Air Corp. made the decision to close its Cedar Rapids facility at 1125 Wilson Ave. SW. This project is part of the company s previously announced global manufacturing strategy. The company intends to relocate the work from the Cedar Rapids facility to several existing facilities in North America. This transition is expected to occur gradually over the next six to 10 months, at which time all manufacturing operations at the Cedar Rapids facility would cease.
Kansas
* Capital One Home Loans is closing its facility at 12800 Foster St. in Overland Park and laying off 320 employees.
Massachusetts
* Evergreen Solar Inc., as part of ongoing efforts to lower overhead costs and reduce overall cash requirements, ceased production at its pilot manufacturing facility in Marlboro at 138 Bartlett St. and moved it to Devens. Almost all of the Marlboro employees have transferred to Devens.
* LiveWire Mobile Inc. terminated its lease with NDNE 9/90 Crossing LLC at 100 Crossing Blvd. in Framingham. The building housed its corporate headquarters prior to the sale of its NMS Communications Platforms business to Dialogic Corp. in December. Following the Asset Sale, the company relocated its corporate headquarters to One Monarch Drive, Suite 203, Littleton, MA.
* Multi-Color Corp. plans to consolidate its heat transfer label manufacturing facility in Framingham at 100 Clinton St. into its other existing facilities. The transition will begin immediately with final plant closure within the next several months. The action will affect 62 workers.
Michigan
* Wolverine World Wide Inc. in Rockford, MI, plans to consolidate key distribution and global operations functions and realign domestic manufacturing operations. When fully implemented, the company expects the restructuring plan will result in a net reduction of approximately 450 positions. The company is also evaluating strategic alternatives for its leather business, which will likely result in the outsourcing of leather processing and the closure of its Rockford tanning facility.
* X-Rite Inc. in Grand Rapids plans to narrow its business focus and rationalize certain business segments. As part of that plan, it is eliminating approximately 90 jobs and reducing work schedules and furloughs for selected employee groups.
New Jersey
* Courier Corp., a book manufacturer, decided close Book-mart Press Inc., a short-run manufacturing subsidiary at 2001 42nd St. in North Bergen, and consolidate its one-color printing operations into other Courier facilities. Book-mart Press has 72 employees and approximately $7 million in annual sales.
* Maidenform Brands Inc. base at 485 Route 1 South in Iselin, NJ, is cutting 9% of its corporate staff. No time frame was announced.
New York
* ArcelorMittal USA Inc. is closing down and laying off 313 employees at 3175 Lake Shore Road in Blasdell on March 22.
* ChemRX is laying off 71 employees at 790 Park Place in Long Beach on Jan. 30.
* Goldman, Sachs & Co. is laying off 200 employees in New York on March 10.
* Harman International Industries Inc. will be consolidating most functions now based at 250 Crossways Park Drive in Woodbury into Harman's existing facility in Northridge, CA, including sales, marketing, and administration. As a result, Harman will be closing its Consumer Audio facility in Woodbury by June 30. The action, which will affect about 130 employees and some 47,500 square feet of leased office space.
* Hussmann Corp. is closing down and laying off 92 employees at 140 E. State St. in Gloversville on June 1.
* JPMorgan Chase Co. is laying off 500 employees in New York on Jan. 31.
* Sisters of St. Joseph/The Academy of St. Joseph is closing down and laying off 41 employees at 1725 Brentwood Road in Brentwood on Aug. 31.
* St. Rose's Home is closing down and laying off 39 employees at 71 Jackson St. in New York on March 31.
* Super Steel Schenectady Inc. is closing down and laying off 175 employees at 2000 7th St. in Glenville on Jan. 31.
* The Penn Traffic Co./Quality Markets is closing down and laying off 62 employees at 709 W. Third St. in Jamestown on Feb. 2.
* Turning Point Facility of Saint Francis Hospital is closing down and laying off 34 employees at 11 Hastings Drive in Beacon on March 15.
* Vision-Sciences Inc. cancelled its lease with Ramland Realty Associates LLC at One Ramland Road in Orangeburg. Vision-Sciences Inc. never occupied the facility and no payments were made or received in connection with the lease.
Ohio
* NN Inc. will close its manufacturing facility at 4505 Mulhauser Road in Hamilton, one of four manufacturing facilities acquired in the 2006 acquisition of Whirlaway Corp. Whirlaway produces a variety of high-precision metal components including fluid control components and assemblies, shafts and other precision metal parts. Operations in Hamilton are expected to cease by the end of March with production being transferred to Whirlaway's manufacturing facilities in Wellington, OH. The closing will impact approximately 20 employees.
Oregon
* GE Security at 12345 SW Leveton Drive in Tualatin, plans to layoff 222 workers on March 8.
* Sauer Danfoss at 3085 NE Brookwood Pkwy. in Hillsboro is cutting 110 positions on March 15. The majority of the plant's operations are expected to be consolidated into the company's Easley, SC, facility. The transition will commence immediately and is expected to be complete by the end of May 2009.
* Boise Cascade plywood mill at 1795 Antelope Road in White City is laying off 113 workers on March 9.
Texas
* Beacon Energy Holdings Inc. reduced its work force at its Cleburne. The company also has temporarily cut back its production there as it works through its on-hand inventory of biodiesel.
* Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc. will stop production at its Houston manufacturing facility at 4494 Campbell Road by the beginning of April and shift production to four of its other plants in Bakersfield and Tulare, CA; Laurel, MD; and Fort Wayne, IN. The closure will impact 168 employees in manufacturing and distribution in Houston. Another 115 sales, distribution and corporate support employees will remain in Houston after the plant closes.
Washington
* Teck Cominco Washington Inc. is laying off 165 workers at 1382 Pend Oreille Mine Road in Metaline Falls on Feb. 16.
Wisconsin
* Alcoa Wheel Products plans to close its Beloit facility at One Reynolds Drive over a two-month period beginning March 15. The closure will affect approximately 293 individuals.
* Basic American Foods plans to close its Plover facility at 4930 Hayes Ave. The closure will take place Sept. 1, with layoffs commencing March 13. The closure will affect approximately 106 individuals.
* Hutchinson Technology Inc. will be closing its photo etch operations in Eau Claire at 2435 Alpine Road. The layoffs are expected to take place by March 17. There will be approximately 100 workers affected by the closure.
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