Posted on 11/26/2022 7:03:43 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
A big US furniture company this week fired all of its 2,700 employees while they were sleeping, telling them in texts and emails not to come to work the next day, according to reports.
The mass firing on Tuesday by United Furniture Industries, which makes budget-friendly sofas and recliners for Simmons Upholstery, left thousands of employees including truck drivers and factory workers in North Carolina, Mississippi and California unemployed just two days before Thanksgiving.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Heartless. I read on another site (Daily Mail) that the company is not providing COBRA coverage either. If true, how can they get away with that?
"The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (the "WARN Act") is a US labor law which protects employees, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 calendar-day advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs of employees, as defined in the Act."
Everything I’ve read on this company pointed to this day coming. New owners bought it a few years back and started cutting corners on quality.
When the trains strike, and the trucks stop running at $9 to $10+/gal for diesel fuel, we’ll be in a recession. Count on it.
“When the trains strike, and the trucks stop running at $9 to $10+/gal for diesel fuel, we’ll be in a recession. Count on it.”
Two comments back you said we’ve been in a recession for 2 years! You’re a riot.
This company describes itself as a transportation, hospitality, and furnishings/furniture company. Their website shows them to be primarily a transportation company (though that may not be accurate).
It would be a mistake to draw conclusions about the economy in general from this event or to even draw any conclusions about the appropriateness of telling people not to report to work via email and texts. For all we know, everyone was already aware of the potential problem and was advised ahead of time to be on the lookout for an email telling them to stay at home or come into work. This kind of thing doesn't usually happen in a vacuum.
I am NOT claiming we are in a depression (yet), but the unemployment rate only measures the percentage of the work force currently looking for jobs. It has been kept artificially low by the Brandon welfare state paying people not to work.
The total employment rate (the percentage of the total work) is a more accurate measure. The total employment rate peaked while Trump was President, then plummeted after the COVID shutdown, and has never recovered.
The total employment rate (the percentage of the total workforce that is employed)
Typing on a cell phone with old big fingers.
Regardless, it’s a very, very bad omen when ‘budget friendly’ manufacturers take such drastic measures.
Strap in tight: It’s gonna be a rough ride.
“The last depression was 90 years ago, and unemployment was 25%. Unemployment today is under 4%.”
Apples and oranges, the methodology for measuring unemployment is entirely different for each.
Should be *depression*, not recession.
Guessing I won’t be getting a response...
Dunno. They now have 2,700 openings!
One of the details in the article suggests that the company incurred a lot of debt to acquire a major competitor. Closing down the business so quickly suggests to me that the company has a liquidation value of less than $0.
It is the third owner of a motel who finally makes a little money.
He did say that, but he corrected it before you even started harping on it.
Yep, just what I was thinking and why I wasn’t too eager for them to take the house. #1. They aren’t going to do anything and #2. They are going to be blamed for everything and the low infos will believe it 100%
Agreed, how should they have handled it? Retaliation and sabotage is a very real problem, trust me I know.
When I have to let someone go they are not allowed in the building without an escort, whether or not it was on good terms or bad.
Warning them that it is coming is far more harmful to the company than not usually, and they have to put the company first at that stage. Sucks for sure, but just like restaurants that the servers come in to a locked door and a note, the alternative can be very, very bad and owners don’t want to risk a gamble they don’t need to.
The assets don’t go away, but they may be worthless to the current owner. If you have $10 million in assets, $50 million in debt, and no way to pay off the debt through your current operations, you may as well walk away because your creditors will be fighting for those assets and you will own none of them anyway.
Good point. It only takes one or two to do something vindictive/retaliatory to destroy a lot.
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