Illinois employers warn of 900 layoffs

Exactly 900 more Illinoisans can expect to be laid off in coming months, according to notices filed with the state.

Exactly 900 more Illinoisans can expect to be laid off in coming months, according to notices filed with the state.

Two major names, Comcast Corp. and Kmart, announced cuts related to the shuttering of facilities. Kmart, in conjunction with the closing of its Forest Park and Peoria locations, is letting go a total of 180 workers. Comcast Corp. is closing a facility in Schaumburg, costing 63 workers their jobs.

Nokia Solutions and Networks plans to lay off 83 workers in Arlington Heights due to restructuring.

These big-name jobs cuts come on the heels of nearly 100 layoffs at Ford’s Chicago assembly plant on Nov. 3. Rather than being given warnings months in advance, 96 “long-term supplemental workers” were fired via robocall.

Food- and facility-service provider Aramark is shedding 265 workers in St. Charles due to a lost contract, while Mt. Zion Flat Glass will hand out pink slips to 187 workers when it closes at the end of the year.

The Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act, requires companies with 75 or more full-time employees to give workers and government officials 60 advance notice of plant closings or mass layoffs. While those layoffs and closings will always be a part of any healthy economy, the Prairie State could do with fewer; it’s home to the second-biggest jobs gap in the country.