Free Republic

The preppy lifestyle brand started by Tory Burch’s ex-husband, Chris Burch, is shutting down its remaining locations ‘due to the highly competitive nature of the current retail environment,’ a spokesman said. It’s curtains for C. Wonder. The retailer confirmed that it will shutter its remaining locations. C. Wonder is closing up shop. The retailer, which was launched by designer Tory Burch’s ex-husband, Chris Burch, will be shutting down its remaining stores, a spokesman confirmed. “Due to the highly competitive nature of the current retail environment, C. Wonder will be closing its remaining stores," a spokesman said in a statement to...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A technology company says it will lay off more than 1,500 employees at a Boise call center where workers handle questions about the federal health care law. The Idaho Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/1F11uRI ) that Maximus Inc. has hired, laid off and rehired hundreds of employees at the call center since 2013....

Yesterday, New York Times readers were treated to a beautifully nuanced and balanced and richly detailed feature about a topic very much in the mix. Its author, Ariel Kaminer, came by her story and its scoop—the first interview with the accused (possibly falsely) rapist of the woman at Columbia who is carrying a mattress around campus to make a statement about campus sexual violence—by developing deep roots in a narrow beat, higher education. And now, Ms. Kaminer will join a hundred or so of her colleagues on the unemployment line as the Times once again cuts costs by cutting journalists....

Job cuts at the New York Times will exceed the stated goal of 100 newsroom positions eliminated, the Newspaper Guild of New York said yesterday in a memo to union members. According to the guild, the Times said yesterday it will lay off 21 union-represented employees starting as early as today, after 57 guild members and roughly 30 non-guild members accepted buyout applications. That amounts to more than the 100 newsroom positions the newspaper said it needed to eliminate as a cost-cutting measure on Oct. 1.

VANSANT, Va. -- Some 175 miners at three SunCoke Energy facilities were laid off today after their mines were idled, company officials announced this afternoon. The Dominion No. 36 mine and parts of the Dominion No. 7 and Dominion No. 30 mines have been idled, said Steve Carlson, spokesman for SunCoke. He said those mines are all in far Southwest Virginia. The move is a step in SunCoke's ultimate plan to exit the coal-production business, Carlson said. The announcement also included plans to reduce production at the Jewell Coke plant in Vansant. "At this point, the plan is to look...

CNN's Washington bureau is suffering from low morale and high anxiety in the wake of weeks of layoffs and buyouts — with one employee likening the place to the Redskins’ locker room. In conversations with POLITICO, sources at the bureau spoke of tension in the office as several longtime staffers have been let go while others are being promoted and given raises. On Friday, during the most recent departures, "people were crying all over the bureau," one D.C. employee said.

Nearly 100 workers at Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant got a robocall on Halloween telling them their services were no longer needed and they were terminated. It wasn't a trick or a morbid prank. Dozens of workers missed the call or didn't believe it, so they showed up to work Saturday anyway, according to an autoworker who wished to remain anonymous. They found their ID badges had been disabled and were told by security they had been fired. "As part of our normal business process, we've temporarily adjusted our workforce numbers at Chicago Assembly Plant," Ford Motor Co. said in a...

With projections of a GOP win growing daily, nervousness in Senate committee offices has turned to panic as an army of Democratic staffers braces to be fired, replaced by a Republican majority and their aides. The spoils of political war? Estimates are that 300-600 Democratic committee and personal staff jobs would be on the chopping block if the Republicans pull off the expected victory. “There will be a mass exodus of Senate Democrat staff from committees,” said one insider. And Republicans will get to hire hundreds more aides. A loss on Tuesday that keeps the Democrats in charge of the...

Kaiser Permanente and other health providers are putting pressure on the powerful California Nurses Association (CAN) in negotiations for reductions in medical staffing and compensation due to the implementation of California’s version of Obamacare. Union nurses on Friday tried to launch a new initiative by demanding an extra compensation supplement and more staffing to be prepared to fight the Ebola virus. But just three years after union nurses won huge contract gains by striking, Obamacare rules that cut patient access to care could now result in huge nurse layoffs. ... the California Nurses Association and other labor unions that campaigned...

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to a 14-year low last week, a positive signal that could counter doubts over whether the economy is shifting into a higher gear. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 264,000, the lowest level since 2000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The decline suggests the labor market is gaining steam even as worries grow that the economy will not be strong enough for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates around the middle of next year.

The ax has fallen on the New Yorkers who work for storied foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour. CNN has canned Amanpour's entire New York City-based staff — four producers — as part of the troubled cable news channel's restructuring, sources said.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced the layoffs on its Facebook page Thursday night. The initial number reported by the union was 58. ... L-3 Army Fleet Support is reducing its workforce in order to address recent decreases in our customer’s flying-hour program and projected requirements ... Workers at Army Fleet Support went on strike briefly near the end of April... AFS announced layoffs of 50 workers in April of 2013 and 70 workers in August of 2013.

Turner Broadcasting, the parent company of CNN, will cut its total workforce by about 10% in the coming weeks through a mix of buyouts, layoffs and other measures, the company said Monday. The reductions are part of a broader effort to save money and refocus investment, known internally as Turner 2020. The company said about 1,475 positions — out of 14,000 full-time positions worldwide — would be eliminated in the coming weeks. Within CNN Worldwide, where the workforce totals roughly 3,500, about 300 positions will be cut, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plan, totaling 8.5%.

As HP cleaves itself in two, the company will also trim another 5,000 employees from its payroll. And even that won't be the end of a massive multiyear layoff that grows bigger every few months, HP CEO Meg Whitman essentially told CNBC's Dan Farber on Monday. HP first announced its layoffs plans in 2012. Back then, HP said it would cut 27,000. By June of this year, it had doubled the target, to 50,000, with 36,000 employees already gone. On Monday, it bumped up the new layoff target, yet again, to 55,000. Even so, HP remains an enormous employer, with...

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) said it would split into two listed companies, separating its computer and printer businesses from its faster-growing corporate hardware and services operations, and eliminate another 5,000 jobs as part of its turnaround plan. HP said its shareholders would own a stake in both businesses through a tax-free transaction next year, the details of which still needed to be worked out. Each business contributes about half of HP's revenue and profit. Shares of the 75-year-old company, which has struggled to adapt to the new era of mobile and online computing, were up 4 percent at $36.60 in early trading...

The maker of hit mobile video game Angry Birds, Rovio, will lay off 130 staff, it announced on Thursday. The job cuts in Finland, which account for 16% of its workforce, will happen "sooner rather than later," said chief executive Mikael Hed on its website. "We have been building our team on assumptions of faster growth than have materialised," he added. Angry Birds is the number one paid mobile application of all time, according to Rovio. The company has expanded the brand into a TV series, toys, clothing and an animated movie, which is expected to premiere in cinemas in...

The closure will cost the town of 5,000 people almost half of its tax revenue. The state Department of Labor says the LePage administration has 60 days to find a buyer for the mill, which has operated since 1930.Hundreds of mill workers from across the state will find themselves without jobs at the beginning of the holiday season after Verso Paper Corp.’s sudden announcement Wednesday that it will close its paper mill in Bucksport effective Dec. 1. More than 500 employees will be out of work in the third mill closure in Maine this year, dealing a severe blow to...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)WICHITA, Kan. - A major cut for the Air National Guard unit based at McConnell Air Force Base. According to Sharon Watson with the Adjutant General's Office in Topeka, around 30% of full time guard members at McConnell will be cut. That works out to around 150 jobs. Plus at least 60 part-time jobs are being cut as well. Most of those guard members will get work at other guard locations in the state. The 127th Command and Control Squadron was eliminated earlier this month. We also know the 184th Munitions Squadron is also being eliminated and the 177th Information...

The New York Times Co. is launching another round of buyouts and layoffs, telling staff on Wednesday that it must cut 100 newsroom jobs to further reduce costs and focus resources on its digital operations. It’s also axing its NYT Opinion app after four months and relegating the NYT Now app to a smartphone-only product aimed at new and younger readers, after the lower-priced subscription products failed to take off as hoped. The planned cuts represent about 7.5 percent of a total current newsroom staff of 1,330. Buyouts will be offered to an undisclosed number of senior managers in the...

The New York Times has announced that it will eliminate roughly 100 jobs from its newsroom through buyouts and, if need be, layoffs. The cuts, announced Wednesday by Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and chief executive Mark Thompson, are part of the Times' larger effort to stem costs and restructure for a more digital future. The Times has already eliminated at least 230 newsroom positions since 2008, even as it continues to staff up on the digital and development side. The new cutbacks should leave the Times with roughly 1,200 newsroom staff. “The job losses are necessary to control our...