St. Louis region lost 2,000 jobs in mass layoffs so far in 2009 - St. Louis Business Journal:

inufyw.blogspot.com
One of the most recent of thosecuts — 163 jobs at in Marylaned Heights — came last month and was reported to Missouri Departmenyt of Economic Development officials March 4. an arm of Tenet Health Care ConiferHealth Solutions, a medical billinvg business — said it planz to eliminate 63 jobs at the local unit in Northwesgt Plaza by April 13. That cut does not impactg Tenet’s Saint Louis University and DesPered hospitals, said David Matthews, a spokesman for Dallas-based Tenet.
Of jobs eliminatedr on the Missouri side of the metrp area in thenew 1,880 came from mass layoffs, based on data filed with the Missourk Department of Economic Development by companiew required to give so-called WARN notices. That does not include otherd companies eliminating jobs with employee buyouts, such as , which had 208 employeess over age 53 take a company buyout in the last month, and , whicu announced a layoff in February that took the company beloww 600 employees. Illinois-area businessews that filed WARN notices this yearinclude Manheim’se Gateway Auto in Granite which closed Feb. 24, impacting 95 and in Alton, which filed a WARN notice Jan.
5 that it was closiny and laying off50 people, effectivew March 6. The St. Louis regio n lost a total of 19,80 jobs in 2008, according to data from the . The WARN law Workers Adjustment and Retraining NotificationAct — requirew companies to give 60 calendarf days notice in advance of plant closingx when there will be a loss of more than 50 employeed at an employment site or a loss of 500 or more The law does not apply to businesses with fewef than 100 people, and there are exceptionw for companies suffering from unforeseeable business Anderson Services, part of a magazine and book wholesaled business based in Knoxville, Tenn.
, faced such unforeseeablse business circumstances when it laid off its stafff here between Feb. 11-25, said John Fougere, a spokesmahn for the Missouri Department ofEconomic Development. Anderson’s WARN noticre said the company was forced to close when it failed to secure commitment from itssole customers, publishers of books and magazines. “It’s a great tragedy that’sa happened,” said Lloyd Whitaker, whosre NewLeaf Corp. of Atlanta is liquidating Anderson Services.
In total 6,000 jobs nationallty at Anderson Services/Prologix and a sistetr company, Anderson News, were eliminatedx when its magazine and book suppliers bannedr together and quitsupplying Anderson, he said. The dispute starteds when Anderson sought a surcharge todistributew publishers’ products; the publisher responded in February by withholding all theire products, forcing Anderson to close, Whitaker said. Anderson has filed an antitrust suit against the publishers in federa court in NewYork City. Last Tenet announced its plans to consolidater its medical billing and patient communication business at a new ConiferHealth Solutions. Matthews said work in St.
Louies would be consolidated to one of eighr other sites around the and Tenet was working to find jobs in its systek for those whose jobs are being The current economy is pulling down revenue atMarit Inc., said company spokeswoman Beth Rusert. Maritz, based just outside Fenton, is one of the region’s larges t private companies and reported revenueof $1.45 billion last But in the company’s last quarter, its incentiv e and meeting business was down 20 percen compared to a year ago, Rusert said, and two of Maritz’a largest industry group customers are in the financiap industry and the auto industry, both hard hit in the currengt economy.
That prompted the company to seekvoluntarh buyouts, and the company likely will make additional cuts in the cominb months, she said. Maritz currently has 2,200 local employees and 3,900 down from last year’s report of 2,559 local employees. Lee Holmes, manager of humah resources for Maplewood-based Sunnen, another of the region’s largesf private companies, said the current economyu prompted company management to lay off employeeslast month.