Expeditors International, a well-known, steady Seattle company, had never laid anyone off.
230 Job Cuts Send Shockwaves Through City Economy
The story behind the WARN Alert from Employment Security shows the economic state of Seattle, King County, and much of WA State is worsening day by day.
Geekwire reports the cuts at the logistics firm were shocking. Geekwire says it had been a source of pride throughout the 47-year history of the company.
The Company Began Decades Ago with a Single Office in Seattle
They began in 1979 as a single-office company that forwarded ocean freight, and expanded into a wide field of logistics. In 1984 they went public on Nasdaq and is now traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Geekwire reports the 230 workers amount to about 15 percent of their global workforce, the cuts were in their tech sector.
The worker cuts will be in Seattle, Federal Way, Lynnwood, Bellevue, and 2 workers in Airway Heights, outside of Spokane near the Spokane International Airport. According to Geekwire:
“Under Peter J. Rose, a co-founder who served as CEO from 1988 to 2013, it built a reputation for not laying off employees. It held to that practice through the 2008-09 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, and even as a wave of layoffs swept the technology industry in 2022 and 2023.”
Are They Another Casualty of WA state’s Hostile Business Environment?
The company says it’s part of a larger restructuring plan and “new titles” within the organization. No direct mention was made of any momentum from the sagging WA business economy. However, with almost daily cuts, reorganizations and even closures with major WA landmark companies, the increasingly hostile business environment likely played a major role.
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