Olam Foods & Ingredients’ plan to lay off about 275 workers at its Firebaugh plant by the end of the year is one in a series of about 60 plant closures or mass layoffs announced so far this year in California’s central San Joaquin Valley.
Some of the measures that companies have notified state and local officials about affect only a few employees at individual locations, but others, such as the closure of an Olam plant that makes products such as dried onions and parsley, could affect dozens or even hundreds of workers.
Under state and federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) laws, employers are required to notify their state Employment Development Department, local city and county officials, and local workforce development boards of any large-scale layoffs or facility closures at least 60 days in advance.
In Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties, WARN notices for about 770 workers have layoff effective dates in early 2024, and about 955 are scheduled for the remainder of 2024, beginning in July, according to notices the state has received so far.
Expired Contracts
The largest layoff announced in the first half of the year was at the National Guard’s 1106th Theater Aviation Support Maintenance Group, where Amentum issued layoff notices to 113 affected workers, including aircraft maintainers, painters and technicians, after losing a new contract to help maintain the base’s aircraft. The previous contract ended June 28.
But Amentum’s WARN notice indicated that the base’s new contractor for aircraft maintenance would be contacting the affected workers with job opportunities. Amentum spokeswoman Chanel Mann told The Bee this week that all but two employees have been hired by the new small business contractor, while the other two will remain with Amentum and have been transferred elsewhere.
The expiration or shortening of a contract is also the reason behind important termination notices such as:
Pro Youth, a Visalia nonprofit, filed a WARN notice in May announcing it would be laying off 247 employees, including school education professionals, on Aug. 15 “due to reductions in Pro Youth services by the Visalia Unified School District at the schools where the Pro Youth employees being terminated work.”
Commercial cleaning company ABM General Services has laid off 114 employees after Amazon terminated its contract to service the online retailer’s warehouse on South Orange Avenue in south Fresno. The termination was effective March 19.
Wellpath, a Nashville-based health care company, had contracts with four Tulare County Jail facilities, and when the contract expired June 30, 100 employees, including registered nurses, certified vocational nurses and other medical professionals, were laid off.
Constellis’ security subsidiary, Triple Canopy, was contracted to provide security services for the Federal Protective Service at federally owned or leased offices throughout California. The expiration of that contract led to the layoffs of 203 employees, including 37 at 12 locations in Fresno.
The company’s contract with the California Community Access Foundation, which provides telephone service to the hearing-impaired and physically disabled, expired July 1, leading to the layoffs of employees at 10 locations across the state, including 10 in Fresno.
Other major job cuts
Earlier this year, 91 delivery drivers were laid off at 17 Pizza Hut franchises across the Valley. Brian Thompson, president of franchisees CalPac Pizza, CalPac Pizza II and Southern PacPizza, said in the WARN notice that by mid-February, the companies “made a business decision to eliminate first-party delivery services and, as a result, eliminated all delivery driver positions at our restaurants.” This includes Pizza Hut locations in Fresno, Hanford, Lemoore, Madera, Los Banos, Merced, Atwater, Porterville, Tulare and Visalia.
The franchisee’s decision to cut the restaurants’ in-house delivery services comes as California’s minimum wage is set to rise to $20 an hour for fast-food chain employees, and it’s part of a move to cut more than 1,200 delivery drivers across the state. The move has forced Pizza Hut customers to use smartphone app services such as Uber Eats and DoorDash to get their pizzas delivered.
Other terminations identified in the WARN notice include:
Visalia-based Country Club Mortgage closed in February, resulting in the layoffs of 105 employees in offices in Visalia, Fresno, Selma, Hanford and Exeter.
In Tulare, Ruan Transportation’s facility on Blackstone Road closed in January, putting 92 employees, mostly truck drivers, out of work. Ruan also closed its Turlock location, laying off 65 employees.
The 99 Cents Only Stores chain has lost more than 1,000 employees in California this year as it permanently shut down, including 41 workers at the Los Banos location, mostly cashiers and stockers. The chain’s shutdown is expected to be complete by early June.
Western Power Sports is in the process of closing its warehouse on South Fig Avenue in Fresno, with layoffs beginning earlier this year and running through mid-August, ultimately resulting in the layoff of 41 employees.
Adventist Health cut delivery services at its Tulare hospital in June, resulting in the layoffs of 22 employees, including 16 registered nurses and obstetric technicians.
More to come
Lewis Foods decided earlier this year to close its Tulare manufacturing plant, a decision that will affect 215 employees by mid-September. The company said in June that the plant, which makes frozen foods, was too small and too expensive to renovate to meet its needs. Lewis Foods plans to keep its Dinuba manufacturing plant open.
About 180 employees at the Cargill Meat Solutions plant on South Fig Avenue in southwest Fresno will be laid off by early August, according to a WARN notice. The layoffs are part of the plant’s acquisition by Hanford-based Central Valley Meat Co. The plant plans to remain open with about 700 employees after the layoffs.
The Olam Americas garlic and onion drying plant near Firebaugh, seen in a 2022 Google Street View image, is scheduled to close by Aug. 30, 2024. The plant’s permanent closure will result in about 275 workers losing their jobs, according to a layoff notice filed in California.