Over Half of Starbuck's Corporate Layoffs in WA--Big Numbers

Chances are your favorite baristas will still be at Starbucks next week, but a lot of WA corporate workers will not.

Numbers released about national layoffs

A few years ago the WA Legislature passed a law requiring the Employment Security Department (ESD) to issue what's called a WARN Alert (Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification) whenever any business lets go of workers. Now, the business has to be a certain size or larger, it doesn't apply to the little four-person coffee stand on the corner.

Any business with at least 100 or more workers is required to issue layoff alerts to ESD when they happen.

But, according to a WARN Alert on Thursday, 612 of the 1,100 national corporate layoffs at Starbucks are in WA state, most in the Seattle area of the northwest-based coffee company. Baristas are not part of the cuts.

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Geekwire reports Starbucks officials are saying the layoffs are to get rid of duplication in duties, and to make their workforce more "nimble."

Layoffs in WA are not a surprise, we have seen a lot of jobs moving out of state, including tech functions. But for the largest coffee company on the planet, it is a little different to hear Starbucks described as "slumping." However, the company has seen sales and revenue decline noticeably over the last four straight quarters.

These 1,100 cuts are one of, if not the biggest, layoffs in company history.