Patterson linen company closure leaves dozens of workers without jobs in Stanislaus County
A Patterson-based linen company is shutting down after being sold to a larger competitor, leaving nearly 90 workers in Stanislaus County without jobs.
Advanced Linen Service, which provides table linens and other services for restaurants and businesses, announced the closure after the company was acquired by multinational firm Alsco Uniforms. Layoffs are expected to take effect on March 6.
The shutdown comes just days after another major layoff announcement in the county, as Del Monte Foods confirmed it will close its Modesto fruit cannery. That closure will impact about 600 full-time employees, along with another 1,200 seasonal workers during the harvest season.
Employees at the Modesto plant say they were informed of the decision during meetings last week. One worker told CBS13 the news came suddenly and left many workers still trying to process what comes next.
Del Monte filed for bankruptcy in July and had previously said it planned to keep the Modesto plant operating. But after company properties were auctioned off, no buyer stepped forward to continue operations at the facility.
Michael Burnick, a former director of California's Employment Development Department, said the back-to-back layoffs are hitting workers especially hard at the local level.
"From a local perspective, and most obviously for the workers themselves, it's a very dramatic impact," Burnick said.
He said Stanislaus County was already dealing with higher unemployment than the rest of the state.
"Well, Stanislaus, the unemployment rate actually has gone up. It's the most recent one for December was 6.8% that's higher than the state average, at 5.5%," Burnick said.
Burnick said the new linen layoffs are now stacking on top of the Del Monte closure.
"And we have this layoff on top of the very large Del Monte layoff, over 600 workers. So this is sort of a double hit to the economy," he said.
He said the effects go beyond just the employees losing their jobs.
"And these hits are both the direct number of employees, but also the secondary impacts in terms of contractors to the to the to these two major firms experiencing layoffs, as well as spending in the local economy," Burnick said.