XPost: alt.business, sac.politics, alt.society.liberalism   
   XPost: alt.politics.economics   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   Solano County is experiencing blow after blow when it comes to mass   
   layoffs, with the potential for even more jobs to be cut.   
      
   According to WARN Act filings, and as CBS Sacramento has previously   
   reported, more than 600 jobs have been lost amid mass layoffs and plant   
   closures in the county since early December.   
      
   The timeline, according to those WARN filings, shows the following:   
      
   Dec. 11, 2025 - Anheuser-Busch's Fairfield plant will close, laying off   
   238 employees Dec. 30, 2025 - Mare Island Dry Docks announced 84 layoffs   
   Jan. 5, CVS in Fairfield will close, laying off 40 employees   
   Jan. 13. Valero's refinery in Benicia will cease operations, laying off   
   237 employees It is expected that another 50 employees will be laid off   
   when another CVS in Vallejo closes.   
      
   In light of it all, the Solano County Board of Supervisors was briefed   
   at their Tuesday meeting by the county's Workforce Development Board   
   (WDB) on what the county is doing to respond.   
      
   "It's very telling when you talk about the potential numbers, the   
   secondary and third effects of this. It is cascading with the potential   
   of 2,000 jobs to be lost. I always hope for the best, but like to plan   
   for the worst," said county supervisor Mitch Mashburn.   
      
   In the presentation, the WDB said it has deployed a rapid response team,   
   engaged the laid-off workers, offered reverse career fairs, realigned   
   county money to support social services and applied for additional   
   funding and grants to help the county continue to step in.   
      
   They are focused on both short-term and long-term economic health of the   
   community.   
      
   "From a county perspective, we are also limited in what we can do,"   
   Mashburn said.   
      
   That is because counties do not create jobs; cities do.   
      
   Fairfield Mayor Catherine Moy says her top priority is job creation to   
   meet this moment.   
      
   "It is unprecedented," Moy said of the recent layoffs. "There are more   
   people looking for jobs now in Fairfield and Solano County than there   
   are available jobs. Those are even minimum wage jobs, and these folks   
   were not paid minimum wage."   
      
   She says what is happening now is counterproductive to the county's   
   goals to keep residents from commuting to surrounding counties to go to   
   work.   
      
   "Some of these people are going to have to do what we're trying to   
   avoid, and that is to work outside of Fairfield, Solano County. It's   
   tragic, that's what it is," Moy said.   
      
   Moy says she and the mayors of Vallejo and Benicia are working together   
   to bring back jobs in their impacted cities.   
      
   "It's an all-hands-on-deck situation," said Moy. "This is the time when   
   you want to be one team, and we are in Solano County."   
      
   For the future of the massive Budweiser plant, Moy says the city is in   
   talks with another non-alcoholic drink manufacturer and a Biotech   
   company, both eyeing the site, which could help restore hundreds of   
   local jobs.   
      
   She wants residents to remain hopeful.   
      
   "It's just tremendously painful. But I don't want people to feel like   
   everything's lost. I don't want anybody feel like that," Moy said.   
      
   The Solano County WDB told the board of supervisors Tuesday that their   
   office plans to head to the State Capitol to advocate for help for these   
   laid off workers in Solano County.   
      
   The challenges come as Governor Newsom is currently on a statewide tour   
   touting job growth in 2025 in California.   
      
   "Governor Newsom is driving historic, locally-informed economic growth   
   through the California Jobs First initiative, investing nearly $1.6   
   billion in 2025 across all 13 economic regions and creating tens of   
   thousands of new jobs, sparking business development, and advancing new   
   high-impact projects," a news release from the governor's office states.   
      
   California's unemployment rate is sitting at 5.5%, which is higher than   
   the national average of 4.4%.   
      
   https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/solano-county-city-mayors-respond   
   -to-mass-layoffs/?intcid=CNR-02-0623   
      
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