Pre-holiday layoffs hit IEO

Inland Empire Oilseeds has once again laid off most of its workforce, including its office staff. As appears to be the norm among American companies, the layoffs came right before Christmas, with most employees being told that the plant hoped to rehire them sometime after the first of the year.

The Record has thus far been unable to contact any of the management personnel for a statement on their future plans. Given that this is a family time and much is going on over the holidays, it is no surprise that contact is difficult right now. We will keep trying.

Among those who have lost their jobs, there appear to be two trains of thought. Those who tend to view the most dire side of the situation say the plant has closed for good, has gone bankrupt, has no hope of re-opening. Those who tend to look on the brighter side of things say that the layoff is just temporary, there is some reshuffling of management taking place, things will soon be back to normal.

We do not know which version is more accurate, but we promise you we will do our best to find out.

It was only a few months ago that IEO management announced to the public, through an article in The Record, that they would be expanding production, and, presumably, hiring more workers.

We are working on the story and hope to bring you an in-depth report next week.