Big Layoffs in West Sacramento

You learn the craziest things protesting at Howe and Arden on Saturday in Sacramento. A motorist stopped for the traffic light rolled down her window and pleaded with me and the other protesters to keep on protesting, no matter what, because "all these people out here (gesturing at the other motorists) just don't know what's going on." 

Then she informed me about the big layoffs announced the day before in West Sacramento (October 3rd). She knew about the layoffs sooner than most because she worked with labor unions. "We deserve better than this," she said. 

Even though our Howe and Arden protests are aimed primarily at ICE and its abuses, there is a sense that we also need to stand for many other causes too, because we are all fighting many of the same foes. The Trump Administration is no friend at all of the labor movement, so we must also support organized labor, as they support us. 

Sure enough, the layoffs finally made the news on Thursday (October 9th), but nearly a week after the fact. So few reporters these days; so much to cover! The powerful love the uninformed citizenry, and the information gap, so we need to help fill in that gap too.

Manna Beverages notified the state on Oct. 3 that over the next four days it planned to close its West Sacramento plant and its warehouses, where 378 workers made and packed juices, energy drinks, teas and sparkling waters for some of the country’s largest beverage brands. At the same time it said it also planned to shutter facilities in Anaheim and Chino, where an additional 260 people worked. 

Manna Beverages said it was underperforming financially and struggling to make debt payments, in a letter to employees that was included in the state notice. It began looking for buyers in June and received two offers, but couldn’t finalize a sale. The company, the letter said, was “out of time and money.”