Kennecott worker buyout helps avoid additional layoffs

Workers at Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper are breathing a sigh of relief after mine officials announced Tuesday, there would not be another big layoff. A recent landslide at the Bingham Canyon Mine has forced the company to drastically reduce production and layoff some administrative staff.

Kennecott officials said in a statement Tuesday that they were able to avoid layoffs in part because of the number of employees who opted for an early-retirement option. More than 130 hourly workers accepted the buyout by the June 1st deadline – about half of those who were eligible. Wayne Holland, a representative from the Steel Workers Union, says the announcement is a huge relief.

Kennecott officials said in a statement that cost-cutting measures, along with the previously announced layoff of about 100 salaried workers, has eliminated the need for any further cuts to its workforce at this time. They did say they would be eliminating some unspecified number of jobs, but that the company would offer alternative roles to those workers. Wayne Holland says 34 union workers are expected to be laid off from their work at the concentrator and smelter, but will have the opportunity to fill positions at the mine and tailings area – openings left by those who took early retirement. KUER

Kennecott announces first wave of layoffs

Kennecott Utah Copper laid off an unspecified number of salaried employees on Thursday, blaming the unprecedented landslide inside Bingham Canyon Mine last month.

"In order to make our business financially sustainable moving forward, we have to look at all costs, and unfortunately that also means people costs. The actions that we are taking today are a direct result of the slide on April 10," said Kennecott spokesman Kyle Bennett.

The layoffs were across the ranks of the mine’s salaried workforce and are effective immediately. "This is not one specific group or department," Bennett said, noting that workers would receive severance packages. Salt Lake Tribune

Kennecott announces layoffs after Bingham Canyon slide

On Thursday, fear became fact for workers at Kennecott Utah Copper. The massive April 10
landslide in Bingham Canyon Mine will cost some their jobs.

Kennecott informed union officials Thursday afternoon that an unspecified number of the
company’s 2,100 employees will be laid off later this month because the landslide is projected to
cut mine production by 50 percent. Salt Lake Tribune

L-3 lays off 190 Utah workers

Defense contractor L-3 Communication Systems has laid off about 190 Utah employees, citing downward trends in defense spending and the prospect of short-term cuts due to the budget impasse in Washington.

The layoffs, representing about 4.2 percent of the company’s workforce in Utah, were ``difficult but necessary’’ to maintain the division’s competitiveness and to boost its ability to win and execute new contracts, a company spokeswoman said Thursday.

Workers at L-3’s Salt Lake City site were informed Thursday morning of the job losses, which affected operations, administrative, engineering, technical and professional staff. Salt Lake Tribune

Tooele County Commissioners Questioned After More Layoffs

Revenue shortfalls have led to rounds of layoffs for Tooele County employees, and county leaders' actions are falling into question.

The county's financial issues started when the last weapon was destroyed at Deseret Chemical Depot in January and, subsequently, federal money stopped coming in. The county now has $23 million to work with for 2013 compared with $27 million in 2012 — a $4 million shortfall.

County layoffs began in August, when 22 county employees were let go.

Then in September, county commissioners asked department heads to cut at least 15 percent from their budgets. The cuts resulted in 22 more layoffs.

Some former employees have voluntarily retired and saw the county's revenue decrease coming years ago, and the commissioners had taken no action to increase revenue.

County commissioners say they chose those cuts over a tax increase. In fact, the county hasn't raised taxes since 1987. Deseret News

Utah-based EnergySolutions lays off hundreds companywide

EnergySolutions, Inc. is laying off about 265 employees worldwide by the year’s end, and it began the reduction in force by giving notice this week to as many as 75 Utah workers.

The move is part of a broader restructuring, the Salt Lake City-based nuclear waste company informed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The layoffs will mean savings of $35 million annually, Gregory S. Wood, executive vice president and CFO, said to federal regulators. At the end of the year, investors will see a charge of between $12 million and $16 million to cover severance, termination benefits, employee relocation expenses and facility costs.

This year has been a busy one for the company, which sprouted from a homegrown disposal site for mildly contaminated, low-level radioactive waste into a multinational business nearly eight years ago.

In Utah, EnergySolutions also has experienced a slowdown at the disposal site. Tooele County Commission Chair Colleen S. Johnson said last week that while the company used to pay about $15 million a year in county mitigation fees seven or eight years ago, this year the site will bring an estimated $2.7 million to the budget. The fees are based on the volume of waste disposed of at the site.

Rusty Lundberg, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control, said the company will be responsible for complying with the state’s health and safety regulations regardless of any changes in staffing. Salt Lake Tribune

End is near for Utah’s chemical depot; layoffs begin

The first layoffs have begun at Deseret Chemical Depot, which is about 10 days away from finishing the destruction of its share of the nation’s chemical weapons stockpile. The jobs of 52 employees of the contractor that runs the plant, URS Corp, were terminated Friday. URS earlier in the fall had announced that even more employees would lose their jobs, but some took other jobs or left early.

The 1,500-employee workforce at the depot, including contractor and U.S. Army employees, will lose their jobs in phases until mid-2014, when the depot 27 miles south of Tooele will be shuttered. The next URS layoffs, of 23 workers, will be in March. Salt Lake Tribune

Overstock lays off 50 workers

Utah-based online retailer Overstock.com announced Tuesday it would cut 3 percent of its total workforce. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, the company also known as O.co, laid off about 50 employers from its nearly 1,500-person Utah workforce. O.co president Jonathan Johnson said the across-the-board cuts were the result of cost-saving measures. Deseret News

Roberts Arts and Crafts to close

Roberts Arts and Crafts will be closing its stores come January. Representatives of the craft store, which first opened in Provo in 1963, announced on Wednesday that they will be closing all the Roberts stores -- located in American Fork, Orem, Provo, South Jordan and Washington -- to focus on online sales. A company representative wouldn't comment on how many employees will lose their jobs. Daily Herald

University of Utah Health trims jobs

University of Utah Health Care is laying off 56 employees by the end of December. Spokesman Christopher Nelson said the reduction of billing and accounting employees will save $2 million over the next five years. But he added that the decision was about efficiency, not economics. He said about half of the employees are expected to be rehired within the U.’s financial services department. Salt Lake Tribune

Two restaurants shut down at Jordan Commons

Two Sandy restaurants closed for business Monday, leaving more than 120 people without employment.

The Mayan Adventure and Spaghetti Mama’s, owned and operated by SLC3 LLC, leased space from the Larry H. Miller Group at the Jordan Commons for the past three years.

The Miller Group has plans to repurpose the Mayan space by adding at least two more movie screens, and banquet and hospitality space. The Mayan space is connected to the Megaplex 17 theater at the site. The company is also looking to see if it is possible also to add some retail space for food options. Salt Lake Tribune

Utah to lose 1,300 jobs when munitions sites close

Officials say about 1,300 Utah jobs are being phased out with the planned closing of two U.S. Army facilities responsible for storing and incinerating the nation's largest stockpile of chemical weapons over the past 15 years. The Deseret News reports the last of the chemical weapons should be incinerated by February at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in west Utah. Decontamination will follow, and the plant will close by September 2014. Army officials say about 1,000 jobs will be eliminated, and another 350 lost at Deseret Chemical Depot, where the munitions have been stored. Ogden Standard-Examiner

SkyWest Airlines to cut 170 Utah jobs

SkyWest Airlines announced Thursday it will cut 170 positions from its Salt Lake workforce. The reductions will come from the ground handling crew at Salt Lake International Airport. The layoffs are a result of service reductions on several of the daily flights operated in conjunction with Delta Connection. Deseret News

Three Utah Marie Callender’s restaurants closed

Employees at Marie Callender’s restaurants in West Valley City and Midvale got the bad news unexpectedly and quickly. On Sunday — the day before the restaurant owner filed for bankruptcy protection — managers announced to employees the two stores would close at 4 p.m. — and for good.The Bountiful Marie Callender’s closed last month. Salt Lake Tribune

Valley Mental Health laying off 100 employees

Valley Mental Health will reduce its workforce by 100 people over the next three months. The layoffs will affect clinical, local unit administration and central administration workers of nonprofit treatment provider, which has about 1,137employees. The reduction in force will not impact the agency's contractual obligations to Salt Lake County nor alter services in Tooele or Summit counties, according to a prepared statements. KSL TV

ATK lays off another 134 aerospace employees

On Tuesday, Alliant Techsystems Inc. informed 134 employees that they were out of work immediately. The end of the space shuttle program and a decision to change the focus of the next-generation ARES space exploration program led to the reduction in force, the fifth for the company’s aerospace division in the past two years.

The layoffs, which include 51 voluntary retirements, impact employees at ATK facilities in Promontory, Clearfield and West Valley City. The eliminated positions are across the board, from engineers and technicians to office workers. All will receive severance packages based on their years or service to the company. ATK’s aerospace systems division now has about 2,100 employees, 45 percent of its total in early 2009. Salt Lake Tribune

Utah wilderness, youth therapy programs closing

A wave of closures and consolidations in wilderness therapy and youth treatment programs in Utah will take nearly 200 jobs from Wayne County alone. Three programs for troubled young people, owned by Aspen Education Group, constitute the biggest employer in the county.

CRC Health Group, Aspen’s California-based parent company, will close two programs in Utah: An equine and behavioral therapy boarding school in Wayne County, and a substance abuse treatment facility for teens in St. George. Another Wayne County drug rehab program will move to Idaho. The state’s longest-running wilderness therapy program, Aspen Achievement Academy, will move from Wayne County to Lehi and merge with another program, Outback Expeditions. A live-in treatment center for teens in Draper will merge with a similar facility in Syracuse. Salt Lake Tribune

A liquor store may be closing near you

Despite record profits, lawmakers have ordered the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to slash its budget by $2.2 million. If the governor approves the reduction, liquor-control commissioners say they would be forced to close stores and lay off workers.

At least nine state stores along the Wasatch Front and in Park City likely would be closed and more than 150 liquor store workers laid off. Hours could be drastically reduced at the remaining liquor stores, which just two years ago were open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Soon, store hours are likely to be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. or noon to 8 p.m. Salt Lake Tribune

Cottonwood Heights Fresh Market store to close

Associated Food Stores Inc. announced Thursday that the company will close the Fresh Market located at 6989 South 1300 East in Cottonwood Heights on March 25. In a news release by the Salt Lake-based grocery wholesaler stated the store was part of a 34-store group of Albertsons supermarkets that was purchased by Associated Food Stores in 2009. According to the statement, the location had underperformed since the previous owner opened the facility years ago and store sales continued to lag. Deseret News

Murray and Logan stores to close in Borders bankruptcy

Borders was slow to get the message as the big-box retailer lost book, music and video sales to the Internet and others. As a result, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday, and will close a third of its stores, including two in Utah.

Border plans to close by the end of April about 200 of its 642 stores, including Utah locations in Murray at 132 E. Winchester and in Logan at 1050 N. Main Street, costing about 6,000 of the company’s 19,500 employees their jobs. The location in Provo at 4801 N. University Ave. is not on the closure list. Salt Lake Tribune