Popular shoe brand permanently laying off 77 SoCal employees

Photo byThe HD Post

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY – Converse notified the Employment Development Department (EDD) that they would be laying off 77 employees at their Ontario distribution center effective November 15.

According to the company website, the Southern California distribution center is comprised of two facilities located on Hofer Ranch Road and Lowell Street, that function as one known as Ontario DC.

The WARN report shows Converse laying off 46 employees from the Hofer location and 31 from the Lowell Street facility.

Converse says the center stores a combined 12 million units of footwear and apparel that support all of North America Distribution.

Parent company Nike laying off 2% of global workforce

In May, parent company Nike announced they were implementing a $2 billion plan to reduce expenses, which includes eliminating 2% of its global workforce – they employ 79,000 employees worldwide.

Converse, representing about 5% of Nike’s total sales, previously told Bloomberg they were realigning some of their teams to better support future growth.

“We can confirm that the total changes to Converse’s workforce were included in Nike’s overall 2% reduction plan, however, we were operating on a discrete timeline,” said a Converse spokesperson in May.

Converse, headquartered in Boston, handles its own product development, supply chain, and marketing. The brand also incorporates Nike technology into its products.

WARN report allows workers time to prepare for employment loss

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) report provides detailed information on employment layoffs and closures.

Under the WARN Act, employers with 100 or more employees must give a 60-day notice before any plant closing or mass layoffs. This allows workers and their families time to prepare for employment loss.

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