Solano County, city mayors are "all hands on deck" responding to recent mass layoffs

Solano County is experiencing blow after blow when it comes to mass
layoffs, with the potential for even more jobs to be cut. 

According to WARN Act filings, and as CBS Sacramento has previously
reported, more than 600 jobs have been lost amid mass layoffs and plant
closures in the county since early December. 

The timeline, according to those WARN filings, shows the following:

Dec. 11, 2025 - Anheuser-Busch's Fairfield plant will close, laying off
238 employees Dec. 30, 2025 - Mare Island Dry Docks announced 84 layoffs
Jan. 5, CVS in Fairfield will close, laying off 40 employees
Jan. 13. Valero's refinery in Benicia will cease operations, laying off
237 employees It is expected that another 50 employees will be laid off
when another CVS in Vallejo closes. 

In light of it all, the Solano County Board of Supervisors was briefed
at their Tuesday meeting by the county's Workforce Development Board
(WDB) on what the county is doing to respond. 

"It's very telling when you talk about the potential numbers, the
secondary and third effects of this. It is cascading with the potential
of 2,000 jobs to be lost. I always hope for the best, but like to plan
for the worst," said county supervisor Mitch Mashburn. 

In the presentation, the WDB said it has deployed a rapid response team,
engaged the laid-off workers, offered reverse career fairs, realigned
county money to support social services and applied for additional
funding and grants to help the county continue to step in. 

They are focused on both short-term and long-term economic health of the
community. 

"From a county perspective, we are also limited in what we can do,"
Mashburn said. 

That is because counties do not create jobs; cities do.

Fairfield Mayor Catherine Moy says her top priority is job creation to
meet this moment. 

"It is unprecedented," Moy said of the recent layoffs. "There are more
people looking for jobs now in Fairfield and Solano County than there
are available jobs. Those are even minimum wage jobs, and these folks
were not paid minimum wage." 

She says what is happening now is counterproductive to the county's
goals to keep residents from commuting to surrounding counties to go to
work. 

"Some of these people are going to have to do what we're trying to
avoid, and that is to work outside of Fairfield, Solano County. It's
tragic, that's what it is," Moy said. 

Moy says she and the mayors of Vallejo and Benicia are working together
to bring back jobs in their impacted cities. 

"It's an all-hands-on-deck situation," said Moy. "This is the time when
you want to be one team, and we are in Solano County." 

For the future of the massive Budweiser plant, Moy says the city is in
talks with another non-alcoholic drink manufacturer and a Biotech
company, both eyeing the site, which could help restore hundreds of
local jobs. 

She wants residents to remain hopeful.

"It's just tremendously painful. But I don't want people to feel like
everything's lost. I don't want anybody feel like that," Moy said. 

The Solano County WDB told the board of supervisors Tuesday that their
office plans to head to the State Capitol to advocate for help for these
laid off workers in Solano County. 

The challenges come as Governor Newsom is currently on a statewide tour
touting job growth in 2025 in California. 

"Governor Newsom is driving historic, locally-informed economic growth
through the California Jobs First initiative, investing nearly $1.6
billion in 2025 across all 13 economic regions and creating tens of
thousands of new jobs, sparking business development, and advancing new
high-impact projects," a news release from the governor's office states.

California's unemployment rate is sitting at 5.5%, which is higher than
the national average of 4.4%. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/solano-county-city-mayors-respond
-to-mass-layoffs/?intcid=CNR-02-0623