Illinois: Sears cuts 130 corporate jobs

Sears Holdings has laid off 130 people, mostly at its Hoffman Estates headquarters, as part of a larger cost-cutting effort designed to save the money-losing company $1 billion this year.

The jobs were cut from various business units and roles, according to Sears spokesman Chris Brathwaite.

He declined to comment on whether more layoffs will follow but confirmed that more changes are coming.

Sears will "continue to take decisive actions to restructure our operations," Brathwaite said, and will continue "to analyze our operating model for greater efficiency beyond today's actions." That means "simplifying" the company structure and bringing "greater consolidation" to both Kmart and Sears, he said.

"This activity is necessary to create a more nimble operating structure capable of driving the company's strategic transformation forward," Lampert wrote in the email obtained by Business Insider. "We highly value all of our associates and do not take these decisions lightly."

Brathwaite declined to specify the number of corporate workers who remain employed at Sears headquarters, but he said it remains above the 4,250 people it needs to maintain to keep its tax breaks under the state EDGE program. Under its 2011 agreement with the state, Sears received 15 years in property tax breaks and state income tax credits worth $15 million a year for a decade.

Sears laid off 115 workers in early 2015 and another 250 last year.

IL, PA: Altria to Close 2 Tobacco Facilities Affecting 580 Workers

Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, said Thursday that it will close manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania and Illinois by early 2018, affecting about 580 workers.

The company said about 200 jobs in different states will be available for those workers, if they choose to transfer. Altria did not say how many workers it expects to lay off. Full-time workers that do not transfer will be given a minimum of six months of severance, in addition to benefits and free job training, a spokesman said.

One of the closing facilities, in Limerick, Pennsylvania, has 280 workers and makes Black & Mild cigars, Middleton's Cherry Blend pipe tobacco and other products. The other facility in Franklin Park, Illinois, has 300 workers and makes Copenhagen, Skoal and other smokeless tobacco products. Operations at those facilities will be moved to manufacturing sites in Richmond, Virginia, where Altria is headquartered, or another facility in Nashville, Tennessee.

Workers were told about the closures Thursday morning, an Altria spokesman said.

The closures are expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2018 and would save Altria about $50 million by the end of that year.

The announcement came as Altria, which also makes Virginia Slims and Parliament cigarettes, reported a 29 percent drop in profit for its most recent quarter, but its adjusted earnings still beat expectations. It reported net income of $1.09 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the three months ending Sept. 30, compared with $1.53 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Caterpillar to cut 670 jobs

Caterpillar says it plans to close five plants and trim about 670 jobs in Illinois and several other states, in the latest phase of a larger cost-cutting campaign announced last year.

 

 The mining and construction equipment company will cut about 230 jobs for office and production workers at a major manufacturing campus in East Peoria, Illinois, where Caterpillar says it's consolidating some manufacturing and transferring some work to outside contractors. Another 120 employees there will

be placed on indefinite layoff.

 

 Caterpillar said other consolidation efforts will add some jobs at a facility in Pontiac, Illinois, while cutting more positions in Thomasville, Georgia; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Prentice, Wisconsin and other sites.

Tyson Foods to close two plants, cut 880 jobs

(Reuters) - Tyson Foods Inc (TSN), the biggest U.S. meat processor, said it would stop operations at two of its plants in the United States, affecting about 880 employees.

The company said it expects to cease operations at a pepperoni plant in Jefferson, Wisconsin and a prepared foods facility in Chicago, Illinois during the second half of the year ending Oct. 1.

The closures would affect about 880 employees, including about 480 at Chicago and about 400 at Jefferson, Tyson said on Thursday.

Illinois: Kraft Heinz cuts 700 jobs in Northfield, Illinois

Kraft Heinz says it is cutting about 2,500 jobs, including more than a third of its workers at Kraft's headquarters in Northfield, as part of its plan to slash $1.5 billion in costs after the food companies combined.

Employees were notified of the staff reductions in an internal email sent this morning. Spokesman Michael Mullen said the cuts include 700 jobs in the north suburb, where Kraft Foods has been based. Mullen said the company has no plans to shut a research and development center in neighboring Glenview, which will "remain open and continue to be an important R&D facility," he said in an email.

Affected workers are in the U.S. and Canada and were to be notified in person. The company would not specify where other cuts were taking place.

The mass firing is among the biggest in metro Chicago since the recession and comes amid layoffs at the headquarters of CME Group, McDonald's , Walgreens Boots Alliance and Allstate.

Kraft Heinz said it has a total of around 46,600 employees, including about 1,900 in Northfield, prior to the dismissals. That's already down from about 2,100 from before Kraft's early July merger with Pittsburgh-based H.J. Heinz.

Significant layoffs had been expected since the company announced plans last month to move one of its two corporate headquarters to 170,000 square feet at the Aon Center in downtown Chicago from its sprawling 700,000-square-foot complex in Northfield.

In the email sent this morning to employees signed by the heads of people and performance for the U.S., Gil de Las Alas, and Canada, Michael Ferranti, employees were told the "thorough and detailed process of integrating our businesses and designing our new organization is well underway."

"The leadership team has examined every aspect of our business to ensure we are operating as efficiently and effectively as possible," the memo read. The cuts, de Las Alas and Ferranti wrote, "will better position the company to deliver on the needs of our consumers and our customers."

A GRIM DAY IN NORTHFIELD

Most employees will be notified by the end of the day tomorrow. They'll be offered benefits for a minimum of six months and outplacement assistance, according to the letter.

A source with knowledge of the cuts described a harrowing morning in Northfield. All employees with senior manager positions or lower were to be given 10 minutes with human resources and security and told whether they would keep their jobs or get a severance package. None had meetings on their calendars this morning, but all had been told to be in the building, said the source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

The company's IT department, the source said, was told to "prepare for 800 computers to be turned in."

Kraft Heinz also will cut a number of temporary office workers and limit their use. They also will be let go by the end of tomorrow.

CUTS AND MORE CUTS

From the moment the merger was completed, the company has been in belt-tightening mode.

In a memo to employees dated July 13, Kraft Heinz CEO Bernardo Hees outlined a variety of "provisional measures" the company was taking to avoid unnecessary spending. That included instructing workers to print on both sides of paper, reuse office supplies like binders and file folders, and turn off computers before leaving the office.

Corporate donations to charities had to be approved, as did memberships in industry associations, the memo said.

At its office in Northfield, the company stopped providing free Kraft snacks like Jell-O.

The company also has instituted a series of new requirements that govern hiring. Kraft Heinz will not rehire former employees of either Kraft or Heinz, spouses of current employees or employees of other consumer packaged-goods competitors unless approved by the executive leadership team, according to a July 8 memo.

A TIGHTFISTED REPUTATION

The combination of Heinz and Kraft earlier this year was engineered by Warren Buffett's Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, which has become known for its tight cost controls.

Hees—a 3G partner—had overseen cost-cutting at Heinz since the ketchup maker was taken over in 2013 through a previous partnership between 3G and Berkshire. That means the cuts announced today mostly will hit the Kraft side of the business.

Together, the two U.S. food giants own brands including Jell-O, Heinz baked beans and Velveeta that are facing sales challenges amid changing tastes. Their combination was nevertheless seen as attractive because of the opportunity to save hundreds of millions of dollars a year by combining functions like manufacturing and distribution.

Executives say they expect to save $1.5 billion in annual costs by 2017.

In a statement, Mullen said today that the job cuts were part of the process of integrating the two businesses and "designing our new organization." "This new structure eliminates duplication to enable faster decision-making, increased accountability and accelerated growth," he said.

Kraft employees brace for big layoffs as Heinz merger nears

While no one at the Northfield, Illinois-based company will say how many of Kraft's 22,000 employees are likely to be out of a job after it merges with H.J. Heinz as soon as July 2, judging by what the new owners did when they took the ketchup-maker private, the layoffs will be swift, proceed in waves and cut deeply.

When Brazilian private-equity firm 3G Capital and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought Pittsburgh-based Heinz two years ago, they cut about 400 headquarters employees, or about a third of the company's corporate staff in Pittsburgh, within the first six months. If they follow the same playbook in Northfield—which seems likely, insiders say—as many as 700 of Kraft's 2,300 local employees could be out of a job by the end of the year.

That would be the largest mass dismissal locally since 5,600 Dominick's employees lost their jobs in December 2013 when the supermarket chain closed all of its stores. Before that, American Airlines cut 987 jobs in 2012 as part of a bankruptcy reorganization, according to state data.

Kraft Heinz, whose products will include a basket of grocery staples from Oscar Mayer meats and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese to Heinz ketchup and Ore-Ida Tater Tots, will be run from Pittsburgh and the Chicago area, the companies have said, though they have not said which functions will be retained here. Kraft has been struggling to boost sales and profit since it split from Deerfield-based Mondelez International in late 2012.

This year's cuts likely would be only the start.

Kraft and Heinz project annual cost savings from the combination to reach $1.5 billion by the end of 2017, which executives said would be achieved through increased scale, operational efficiencies and cost reductions. While neither company publicly has acknowledged layoffs as part of the mix, Kraft CEO John Cahill told employees in a video shortly after the merger was announced that “cost-cutting will be a focus. I do want to be candid.” And the combined company's prospective CEO, Bernard Hees, told Kraft employees in April that “change is never easy.”

LOOK TO PITTSBURGH

That certainly has been true in Pittsburgh.

Since 3G and Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway closed the Heinz deal in June 2013, the company has slashed more than 7,000 jobs, a component of ruthless cost-cutting measures that helped boost its 2014 profit to $657.1 million, according to the company's annual report filed in March. In its first full year under new ownership, Heinz's managers cut expenses by 19 percent through restructuring, layoffs, plant closures in the U.S., Canada and Europe, and other initiatives aimed at generating $250 million in annual savings.

“When 3G and Berkshire take an ownership stake, they reduce costs, and that almost always includes significant layoffs,” says Wade Pierson, founder of staffing firm Impact Talent Ventures in Medford, N.J. “It's pretty widely known among the circles of folks in my business and others who cover the (industry) that they're coming, but what we don't know yet is how many and what positions.”

At Heinz, the layoffs came in several waves and included workers at every level. The first cuts came about six weeks after the deal closed and took out some 600 workers in Heinz's North American operations, including about 350 office workers in Pittsburgh. Five months in, the new company had cut a total of 2,000 corporate and field positions through the closure and consolidation of manufacturing facilities and corporate offices. Weeks after those cuts had concluded, Heinz announced it would close three plants in North America and dispatch about 1,350 more employees.

Buyouts and layoffs continued in 2014. By the end of last year, Heinz had 24,500 employees worldwide, down from 31,900 when the company announced its takeover by 3G and Berkshire Hathaway in April 2013.

Because Heinz already has been through the efficiency wringer, it's likely that the preponderance of cost-cutting and layoffs will target the Kraft side of the business, analysts and company insiders say.

MAKING THAT LIST

Those cuts are likely to target positions in corporate functions like human resources, accounting, finance and marketing. They could include members of sales teams who call upon the same accounts as their new colleagues at Heinz. There also could be efforts to streamline distribution and possibly production, raising the specter of plant closures, or “manufacturing rationalization” as it's known in industry parlance.

“Across the board, obviously, 3G has shown a penchant of taking a more heavy hand with regards to operating costs, and we think they will employ that stringent focus when looking at the combined operating cost structure of Kraft and Heinz together,” says Erin Lash, an analyst at Morningstar in Chicago. “Like other (consumer packaged goods) companies, Kraft has been working to streamline costs even prior to this announcement, but we expect those efforts will occur at an even more pronounced level when the businesses are combined.”

Senior teams from Kraft and Heinz have been meeting regularly since the merger was announced in March to identify areas of overlap between the two food giants, but they have not disclosed plans to anyone outside senior and executive level teams, sources say. No job cuts are expected before late August, insiders say, but some midlevel workers have begun independent job searches ahead of potential layoffs, staffing firms, current and former employees say.

Pierson, the staffing firm executive, says that in combinations involving companies as large as Kraft and Heinz, executives from both companies “are literally mapping out each department, each position and trying to figure out where there's overlap and where do certain (workers) fit within the (merged) company.”

In addition to layoffs, Pierson says, a significant number of workers likely will be asked to take on new roles, potentially in different locations. “There will certainly be disruption, but these are both well-managed companies.”

COMMITTED TO CHICAGO

Michael Mullen, a Heinz spokesman, cautions that many details about the new organization have not yet been determined. “This includes finalizing and announcing the new leadership team who will lead the company and integration of Kraft and Heinz,” Mullen says in an email. “Our priority will be to communicate with all employees openly, honestly and often throughout this process.

"Many things will stay the same, and we remain committed to our hometowns with our co-headquarters in Pittsburgh and Chicago.”

While Heinz CEO Hees will lead the new company, the remainder of the Kraft Heinz executive team has not been identified. The new team “will lead the new company including the ongoing integration efforts,” says Basil Maglaris, a Kraft spokesman. In a regulatory filing yesterday, Kraft says Heinz executives have spoken with some members of Kraft's senior management team about remaining with the combined company following the merger. (Cahill, for instance, will stay on in a diminished role as vice chairman.) Kraft says no other final decisions have been made.

Kraft's shareholders are expected to approve the combination in a meeting scheduled for July 1. The companies expect the transaction will close as soon as the next day.

“It's important to note that, until the transaction is closed, we remain two independent companies,” Maglaris says. “The work being done now is led by an integration team comprised of both Kraft and Heinz executives, including Kraft senior leaders representing every function and discipline in the company. They're gathering information to ensure a seamless transition, including critical details to inform the longer-term structure of the company and value-creation opportunities.”

John Deere laying off 910 workers in Iowa, Illinois

A continuing decline in farm equipment sales will idle more than 900 employees of Deere & Co. in Iowa and Illinois over the next two months, including 565 in Waterloo.

Moline, Ill.-based Deere on Friday termed the actions “workforce adjustments,” including indefinite layoffs at five locations that build agricultural equipment. In addition to the Waterloo employees at three locations, Deere said 300 will be idled at the Des Moines Works in Ankeny and 45 at Harvester Works in East Moline, Ill.

The layoffs will begin in early February and most will be effective in late March.

The latest Deere furloughs come after the Waterloo plant laid off 460 employees in October, primarily in two areas — tractor cab assembly operations (about 240) and drivetrain operations (about 195).

Deere manufactures medium and large row crop tractors, cab assemblies, marine and industrial diesel engines, drivetrain components, wheel assemblies, gray and ductile iron castings, and tractor parts and components in Waterloo.

United Auto Workers Local 838 represents bargaining unit employees of Deere's Waterloo plants. While declining to comment on the latest layoffs, a spokesman who declined to be identified said it plans to reach out to affected members to offer assistance.

The union spokesman also said it was impossible to provide a pay range for those affected by the layoff, citing the different employment classifications and tenure that influence how much a union member is paid.

The UAW master contract with Deere covering all the company's plants in Illinois, Iowa and Kansas will expire on Oct. 1, 2015.

A total of 93,500 people were employed in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan statistical area in November, according to Iowa Workforce Development. Of that number, about 12,700 worked in durable goods manufacturing.

The latest layoff at Deere's Waterloo facilities would affect 0.59 percent of those employed in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area and 4.3 percent of residents working in durable goods manufacturing. Waterloo-Cedar Falls had a 4.5 percent unemployment rate at the end of November.

Lower corn and soybean prices have affected farmer purchases of two- and four-wheel-drive farm tractors and combined industrywide. Corn prices have fallen from an average $6.89 a bushel in 2012 to $3.65 a bushel. Soybean prices have dropped from $14.40 a bushel in 2012 to $9.50 a bushel.

Gov. Terry Branstad said corn prices are depressed because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not maintained a robust federal Renewable Fuels Standard.

“When the price of corn gets below the cost of production, farmers are reluctant to purchase (equipment),” Branstad said Friday, reacting to the Deere layoff announcement.

A total of 425 four-wheel-drive farm tractors were sold in December, down 49 percent from 834 in the same month of 2013, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, which tracks farm equipment sales on a monthly and annual basis.

Sales of self-propelled combines dropped 40.4 percent to 760 in December 2014 from 1,275 in December 2013.

For all of 2014, four-wheel-drive farm tractor sales were down 26 percent and combines sales were off 25.7 percent from 2013.

Deere said about 500 employees at Deere's Seeding and Cylinder facility in Moline will go on an extended inventory adjustment shutdown. The plant typically has a seasonal inventory adjustment this time of year.

The seeding and cylinder shutdown is expected to end in late summer.

Deere has added 220 jobs at construction and forestry factories in Davenport and Dubuque. The company said nearly all of the positions have been filled by individuals who had been working for Deere at other locations, but were laid off in October.

The latest layoffs at Deere's Waterloo plants have revived memories of the 1980s farm crisis that slashed employment at Deere and other farm implement makers.

On Nov. 1, 1982, 1,300 Deere employees were laid off indefinitely at three Waterloo plants. An additional 400 workers were placed on indefinite layoff on Nov. 22, 1982.

Another 3,800 employees were affected by a March 14 to March 27, 1983, shutdown, as Waterloo needed time to rework the lines and reduce dealer inventories. On Aug. 27, 1984, 642 of 6,300 wage employees at three Waterloo factories, were laid off due to high interest rates, the 1983 drought, and poor overseas trade.

Illinois : job cuts at Deere, Brunswick, others

Nine companies reported possible job cuts to the state last month, but the firm responsible for the biggest number says they're almost all relocations, not layoffs.

Schaumburg-based Career Education Corp., said it is moving about 740 workers after a lease expired on its Downers Grove office space, prompting a move of facilities and employees.

"Nearly everyone" agreed to shift to other offices across the Chicago area, said Mark Spencer, the company's director of communications. "We just informed (the state) to comply with both the spirit and letter of the law," Mr. Spencer said.

Career Education, one of the largest for-profit college corporations in the country, owns 16 Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts campuses across the country and the Harrington College of Design in Chicago, among dozens of other schools. The company saw its revenue decline 20 percent in 2013, to $1.06 billion. At the end of 2012, the company said it would close 23 of its 90 schools in light of declining revenue and student enrollment.

Last year, Career Education settled a $10.25 million lawsuit with the state of New York, which alleged the company advertised false job placement rates.

Elsewhere, in a move already reported, agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co. will eliminate some 425 jobs at its East Moline factory, about 165 miles west of Chicago, because of waning demand. Last month, Deere said it would scale back production of its equipment because record crops are depressing grain prices and discouraging farmers from making big purchases.

Other job losses mentioned in the August report for the Illinois' Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN:

• In west suburban Schiller Park, 418 workers at Hostess Brands' bakery will lose their jobs when the bakery closes in October.

• About 170 employees will be laid off at FutureMark, a company in south suburban Alsip that makes coated paper for magazines and catalogs. "We're involved in a declining market," said Everett O'Neill, the company's vice president of operations. "We'd gotten to the point where our profit margin was essentially nonexistent."

• In Chicago, about 124 people may lose jobs with west suburban Wood Dale-based janitorial company Total Facility Maintenance Inc. The losses are the result of the Chicago Public Schools' decision to change its janitorial services provider, according to Wendy Gonzalez, Total Facility Maintenance's human resources director. Some employees may be able to be reassigned to other jobs, she said, though she could not say how many.
In March, Chicago Public Schools entered into a $260 million contract with Aramark to provide maintenance services in addition to its existing contract for food services.

• Another 28 people at Twin Cleaning Professionals Inc., headquartered in Maywood, will lose their janitorial jobs with CPS for the same reason.

• In downstate Murphysboro, some 109 RehabCare employees will be laid off because of a site closure. Louisville, Ky.-based RehabCare is the largest rehabilitation company in the country, offering nursing, home health and other forms of rehab care.

• Lake Forest-based Brunswick Corp. is shedding about 50 jobs. The company, which makes boats, fitness machines, and bowling and billiards equipment, sold its retail bowling business to Bowlmor AMF for $270 million earlier this year.

• About 41 people will lose jobs in Chicago with Invitation Homes, a Dallas-based owner and manager of renovated rental homes.

Illinois : Companies announce over 700 job cuts

Nine companies, including Comcast Corp. and software firm Intuit Inc., warn of 738 Illinois job cuts in a new state report.

More than 500 of the cuts are in the Chicago area, according to the July WARN report from the state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

• Philadelphia-based Comcast plans to lay off 112 workers in southwest suburban Romeoville starting Sept. 14.

• Mountain View, California-based Intuit will lay off 104 workers in Arlington Heights starting Sept. 15.

• Commercial real estate company Equity Office Management LLC will cut 48 workers in Chicago starting at the end of September.

• Fairfield, California-based confectionery maker Jelly Belly Candy Co. is cutting 66 workers in North Chicago. The company said laid-off workers will receive outplacement services and also will be able to explore job transfers to other company locations.

• We Clean Maintenance & Supplies Inc. in Bedford Park will lay off 107 workers in Chicago. The layoffs come at the request of a client, a spokeswoman said.

• Chicago-based Geralex Janitorial Services Inc., which provides janitorial services at airports and schools, is cutting 67 jobs in the city.

• Janitorial and property services firm RJB Properties Inc. in Orland Park is laying off 41 workers in its Chicago office.

• Kraft Foods Group Inc. warned of 56 layoffs in Champaign. The Northfield-based company previously announced in April that 60 drivers and fleet support staff in Champaign were going to be laid off as part of a national plan to cut 285 jobs.

• The highest number of layoffs in the report come from Clive, Iowa-based Jacobson Warehouse Co. The company will lay off 137 workers in East Moline starting at the end of September.

Illinois employers warn state of nearly 550 job cuts

Five companies may shed a combined 546 jobs in Illinois in coming months, according to the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act report for January.

That figure does not include job cuts will occur due to the merger of Naperville-based OfficeMax Inc. and Office Depot Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla. OfficeMax was named in the report but did not provide a job estimate. A spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.

Other cuts:

• Specialty Foods Group Inc., a meat wholesaler in Chicago that makes Nathan's Famous hotdogs and other products, will lay off 250 workers. No reason was provided and a company executive did not immediately return a call for comment.

• Harmony Health Plan of Illinois, a Chicago-based health maintenance organization, will eliminate 105 jobs. No reason was provided and a company executive did not immediately return a call for comment.

• J.C. Penney Co. will shed 127 jobs when it shutters its store in west suburban Bloomingdale in May. The closure is one of 33 underperforming stores Penney will shut down nationally as the department store company attempts a turnaround.

• Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, a company in west suburban Bensenville that manufactures windows, doors, skylights and architectural glass, will lay off 64 workers as it closes its facility.

Illinois: Tellabs will cut 300 jobs

Naperville, Illinois-based Tellabs Inc. said Friday it will cut about 300 jobs after it posted a $23 million loss in the fourth quarter.

CEO Dan Kelly said on a conference call that the company plans to cut expenses, including via the job cuts. The company, which has about 2,600 employees worldwide, would not specify where the job cuts would be.

Tellabs' fourth-quarter revenue was $242 million, compared with $317 million in the year-ago quarter. It also posted a net loss of $23 million, or 6 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with a net loss of $5 million, or 1 cent per share, in the same period in 2011.

Overall, 2012 revenue was $1,05 billion, compared to $1.28 billion in 2011.

Illinois: Cardinal Health cutting 650 jobs in Waukegan

Health care manufacturing and distribution giant Cardinal Health Inc. is moving production out of north suburban Waukegan, a move that will cost some 650 local jobs. 

Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health disclosed Wednesday that it also would sell property in Waukegan, but the company will keep some operations there. Cardinal expects to incur a loss on the property sale, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cardinal will sell seven of the nine buildings at McGaw Park and consolidate Waukegan employees into the remaining two, a Cardinal Health spokeswoman said.

Cardinal's decision will leave about 700 employees in Waukegan, most of them professional jobs such as marketing, customer support and IT, according to the spokeswoman.

The production of surgical kits will move to South Carolina and Mexico, she said. The company is looking to sell a mix of office and industrial property totaling about 1.2 million square feet and will keep two office buildings totaling about 267,000 square feet, an executive said. He declined to disclose an asking price. The company also is planning a reorganization in El Paso, Texas, that will result in about 80 job cuts, according to Dow Jones, which reported Cardinal's moves Wednesday.

Illinois : Donnelley leads list of 700-plus local layoffs

(Crain's) — Seven Illinois companies have told the state their plans to cut more than 700 employees by the end of the year, with most of the layoffs taking place before June.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. reported the biggest cuts, eliminating all 207 jobs at its plant in Mendota. Last week the Chicago-based printing services provider announced it will close the plant, part of a restructuring as the company struggles to survive in an increasingly digital world.

The cuts were reported in the monthly Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act report released by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Other layoffs include:

• Sugar Grove-based AeroCare Medical Transport System Inc., an air ambulance and Medevac services provider, notified the state of 81 layoffs. A spokeswoman said the firm told the state to satisfy the law in case it does close a facility, but has not yet determined whether it will do so.
• Diversapack LLC, a packaging company headquartered in Commack, N.Y., will cut 90 jobs when it closes its Marengo location.
• Calmark Inc., a Chicago-based direct mail facility, will eliminate 102 positions.
• Grubb & Ellis Co., the Santa Ana, Calif.-based real estate advisory firm, laid off 74 Illinois employees at the end of March. Last week, brokerage company BGC Partners Inc. received approval to move forward with its acquisition of the firm, with the deal expected to close in the coming days, according to reports.
• York, Pa.-based plastics manufacturer Graham Packaging Co. will cut 81 jobs when it shutters its West Chicago location.
• Family Service & Community Mental Health Center, located in McHenry, notified the state it will cease operations after April 30; 98 employees will lose their jobs there. CEO Lori Nelson said the health center is currently working on a transfer of services agreement with LaSalle-based North Central Behavioral Health Systems, with about 80 of its employees expected to be rehired.

Illinois : jobs on the chopping block at 10 local companies

(Crain's) — Ten companies have notified the state they have cut or plan to cut more than 1,400 jobs in the coming months, with the majority of layoffs taking place by the end of May.

Near the top of the list is Archer Daniels Midland Co., which shed 207 employees at the end of February. Earlier this year, the Decatur-based company said it planned to trim about 1,200 jobs from its global workforce, many of which were tied to plant closings in Iowa, North Dakota and Texas.



The layoffs were reported in the monthly Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act report released by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Other job cuts in the report include:

• StarTek USA Inc., a Greeley, Colo.-based business process outsourcing company, will eliminate 258 positions at its Decatur office next month.

• Chicago-based frozen food manufacturer Appetizer's And Inc. will cease operations at its plant on April 26, laying off all 148 employees. Mark Shircel, the company's director of corporate human resources, said the closing was the result of a downturn in business.

• Insurance provider MetLife Inc., headquartered in New York, will shutter its MetLife Home Loans offices in Oak Brook and Itasca, cutting a total of 132 jobs. In January, the company announced it is getting out of the mortgage business, which accounts for a fraction of its overall operations, a spokesman said.

• Buffalo Grove-based Equable Ascent Financial LLC, a debt-acquisition firm, will also close, eliminating 131 positions.

• Alberto-Culver USA, which was acquired by European consumer products maker Unilever last fall, will shed 121 employees. In December, Unilever announced plans to shut down the Alberto-Culver plant in Melrose Park sometime in 2013, with about 800 employees expected to be cut or transferred.

• Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Central Garden and Pet, which manufactures lawn and garden products and pet supplies, will close its Elk Grove Village production site, eliminating 90 positions. A spokeswoman said the company is closing the facility because a second production site in Franklin, Wis., is under capacity. Two employees will move to a corporate office in Schaumburg, while the rest will be able to interview at the Wisconsin location.

• Playboy Enterprises Inc. will cut 56 employees when it moves its headquarters from Chicago to Los Angeles.

• Nike Inc. will temporarily lay off 160 employees at its Niketown location on Michigan Avenue during a renovation.

• And in addition to the 327 job cuts it announced in previous months, Olin Corp., a Clayton, Mo.-based maker of copper alloys and ammunition, will cut another 104 employees due to a relocation.

Illinois businesses cutting more than 650 employees

(Crain’s)—Seven Illinois companies notified the state of plans to cut a total of more than 650 jobs by the end of March, an increase from layoffs announced a month earlier.

Gray Interplant Systems Inc. accounts for the most losses. The Peoria-based warehousing and storage company will cut 167 employees, according to a monthly Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act report released by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. The state law, known as WARN, requires firms with at least 75 employees to give 60 days’ notice of closings or large layoffs.

Only one of the seven companies, Gold Standard Baking Inc., is based in Chicago. A manufacturer of fresh and frozen baked goods that was acquired by Chicago’s Arbor Investments in 2008, Gold Standard will let 73 workers go when the company shuts down permanently in March. Calls to the bakery and to Arbor Investments were not immediately returned.

Two Kmart stores, in Franklin Park and Downstate Washington, are closing and will shed 163 jobs collectively; Kmart is a unit of Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holdings Corp. Itasca-based C. D. Listening Bar Inc., a durable goods wholesaler that does business as DeepDiscount.com, will lay off 67 employees, and Doumak, a Bensenville chocolate confectionery, will cut 60 people temporarily as it installs new equipment.

Other employers reporting layoffs are AGI North America LLC, a Downstate Jacksonville-based manufacturer of paperboard boxes that is laying off 70 employees, and Houston-based Dynegy Inc., which is dismissing 53 workers at its Vermillion power plant in Downstate Oakwood.

In its previous report, the state said 495 employees would lose their jobs at four businesses by the end of February.