WASHINGTON, DC – The Bureau of Labor Statistics latest report shows that employers issued 1,316 “mass layoff actions” in September affecting more than 122,000 workers. Most of these layoffs were either directly or indirectly related to Obamacare and the constant increase of government regulations.
Ohio-based auto parts manufacturer Dana Holding Corp. warned employees last week of the potential of imminent layoffs due to what the company called “looming concern” about the economy. Roger Wood, President and CEO of Dana Holding, referred to the growing burden of “increasing taxes on small businesses” and the necessity to “offset increased costs that are placed on us through new laws and regulations.”
The healthcare mandate will cost Dana Holding Corp., which employs some 24,500 workers, “approximately $24 million over the next six years in additional U.S. health care expenses … This is a cost that our customers are not willing to cover, mandating that we reduce our overhead expenses to cover them.”
Consol Energy issued a federally mandated layoff disclosure last Tuesday as it announced its “intent to idle its Miller Creek surface operations near Naugatuck, W.Va.” The layoffs will hit the company’s Wiley Surface Mine, Wiley Creek Surface Mine, Minway Surface Mine, Minway Preparation Plant and Miller Creek Administration Group, all in Mingo County, W.Va.
In spite of state approval, a flawless safety record, and cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA has stonewalled Consol’s efforts to obtain the much needed permits for a surface mining project. The standoff has forced layoffs of 145 Consol Energy employees that will begin at the end of the year.
Murray Energy Corporation in Ohio is likewise seeing itself forced to lay off workers due to needless government red tape. Founder and CEO, Robert E. Murray, blames the White House anti-coal agenda for the layoffs and closure of his company’s mine. He told CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien that “the many regulations that (Obama) and his radical appointees and the U.S. EPA have put on the use of coal, there are dozens of them and collectively by his own energy administration, have closed 175 power plants.”
Murray said, “we cannot get permits for these mines. They are delaying the issuance of permits. If you can’t get the permit, you can’t have the mine. … I created those jobs, and I put the investment in that mine. And when it came time to lay the people off, I went up personally and talked to every one of them myself to lay them off. It’s a human issue.”
As feared before the election, various “small taxes” related to Obamacare are already leading medical related companies to lay off workers. Some of these include:
- Stryker, a maker of artificial hips and knees based in Kalamazoo, Mich., is cutting 5 percent of its global workforce (about 1,000 workers) this coming year to reduce costs related to Obamacare’s taxes and mandates.
- Covidien, a N.Y.-based surgical supplies manufacturer, recently announced layoffs of 200 American workers and plans to move some of its plant work to Mexico and Costa Rica, in part because of the coming tax hit.
- Zoll Medical Corp, a maker of defibrillators and employs some 1,800 workers in the U.S. and around the world says the medical device tax will cost the company between $5 million and $10 million a year.
- Cook Medical Inc. of Indiana shelved plans to open five new plants because of the imminent medical device tax hit. They are not alone.
- Koch Industries, Westgate Resorts and ASG Software Solutions have all separately informed their employees of prosperity-undermining Obama economic politics.