The layoffs of about 275 workers by the end of this year by Olam Foods & Ingredients at its Firebaugh plant is one of a string of almost 60 closures or mass layoffs announced so far this year across the central San Joaquin Valley of California.
Some of the actions for which companies have notified state or local officials involve only a few employees at individual locations; others — including the closure of the Olam plant that produces dried onions, parsely and other products — affect dozens or even hundreds of workers.
Employers are required under state and federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, acts to notify the state Employment Development Department, local city or county officials, and local workforce development boards of large-scale layoffs or facility closures at least 60 days in advance.
Across Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties, WARN notices for almost 770 workers carried layoff effective dates in the first half of 2024; about 955 are slated for July and through the remainder of 2024, according to notices received to date by the state.
Expiring contracts
The largest single announced layoff over the first half of the year was at the National Guard’s 1106th Theater Aviation Support Maintenance Group, where Amentum served notice of 113 affected workers including aircraft mechanics, painters, technicians and others as a result of losing out on a new contract to support aircraft maintenance at the base. The prior contract ended June 28.
Amentum’s WARN notice indicated, however, that a new contractor for aircraft maintenance at the base was expected to reach out to the affected workers for possible job opportunities. Chanel Mann, a spokesperson for Amentum, told The Bee this week that all but two of the employees were picked up by the new small-business contractor; the other two remained with Amentum and transferred to another location.
Expired or reduced contracts are also behind some other significant layoff notices, including:
- Pro Youth, a nonprofit in Visalia, filed a WARN notice in May announcing that it expects to lay off 247 of its employees, including school enrichment specialists, on Aug. 15, “due to Visalia Unified School District reducing Pro Youth’s services at their school sites, which is where the Pro Youth employees being laid off are working.”
- ABM General Services, a commercial janitorial company, laid off 114 of its employees after Amazon terminated its contract with the company for services at the online retailer’s warehouse on South Orange Avenue in south Fresno. The contract termination was effective March 19.
- Wellpath, a Nashville-based healthcare company that had contracts at four Tulare County Jail facilities. The June 30 contract expiration resulted in the layoffs of 100 employees, including registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses, and other health professionals.
- Triple Canopy, a security company subsidiary of Constellis, held a contract to provide security services under the Federal Protective Service at federally owned or leased offices across California. The expiration of that contract meant laying off 203 employees, including 37 across 12 sites in Fresno.
- The expiration on July 1 of the California Community Access Foundation’s contract to provide telephone services for deaf and disabled clients meant layoffs of workers at 10 sites throughout the state, including 10 workers in Fresno.
Other sizable layoffs
Earlier this year, 91 delivery drivers at 17 Pizza Hut franchises across the Valley were laid off. Brian Thompson, president of franchisee companies CalPac Pizza, CalPac Pizza II and Southern PacPizza, said in WARN notices that the companies had “made a business decision to eliminate first party delivery services and as a result the elimination of all delivery driver positions” at the restaurants by mid-February. Those include Pizza Hut outlets in Fresno, Hanford, Lemoore, Madera, Los Banos, Merced, Atwater, Porterville, Tulare and Visalia.
The franchisee’s decision to cut the restaurants’ own delivery services came as California’s minimum wage was scheduled to increase to $20 per hour for restaurant workers at fast-food chains, and are part of a statewide move to slice more than 1,200 delivery drivers. The move meant Pizza Hut customers need to use smartphone app services such as Uber Eats or Doordash for pizza delivery.
Among other layoffs disclosed in WARN notices are:
- The closure in February of Visalia-based Country Club Mortgage resulted in the layoffs of 105 workers at offices in Visalia, Fresno, Selma, Hanford and Exeter.
- In Tulare, the closure of the Ruan Transportation facility on Blackstone Street in January cost 92 employees — most of whom were truck drivers — their jobs. Ruan also closed its hub in Turlock, where 65 employees were laid off.
- The complete shutdown of the 99 Cents Only Stores chain this year meant the loss of more than 1,000 employees in California, including 41 — mostly cashiers and stockers — at the company’s store in Los Banos. The wind-down of operations at the chain was expected to be complete by early June.
- Western Power Sports is in the process of closing its warehouse on South Fig Avenue in Fresno. Layoffs started earlier this year and will continue through mid-August, ultimately resulting in the layoffs of 41 workers.
- Adventist Health’s reduction of labor and delivery services at its hospital in Tulare in June resulted in the layoffs of 22 employees, including 16 registered nurses and obstetric technicians.
Still to come
A decision earlier this year by Ruiz Foods to close its production plant in Tulare will affect 215 workers by mid-September. The company said in June that the plant, which produces frozen foods, was too small and would be too expensive to upgrade to meet its needs. Ruiz Foods will continue to operate its production plant in Dinuba.
Almost 180 workers at the Cargill Meat Solutions plant on South Fig Avenue in southwest Fresno are being laid off by early August, according to a WARN notice. The layoffs follow the takeover of the plant by Hanford-based Central Valley Meat Co. The plant will remain open with about 700 workers after the layoffs.
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