PUEBLO — Over 100 people will be out of work at the end of January 2025 as a wholesaler announced its intent to cease operation in Pueblo to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE).
If you or someone you know were impacted by the layoffs we would like to speak with you, send us an email.
Russ Davis Wholesale (RDW) wrote to the department about its intent to cease operations and have a permanent closure of its facility at 1 Crazy Fresh Place in Pueblo.
In the letter, it states that all employees have been notified of their separation date and the last day of employment for employees would be January 31 with a full closure of the facility on February 1, 2025.
RDW is a fresh produce wholesaler based out of Minnesota. With facilities across the United States, it is unclear at this time if the Pueblo facility is the only facility closing or if this is a larger reduction in workforce company-wide.
According to Russ Davis Wholesale, they first opened the Pueblo Facility in 2018 but it is unclear what has led to the closure. Employees at the Pueblo facility were not unionized nor were there bumping rights for the affected employees.
News5 has reached out to Russ Davis Wholesale through multiple channels about whether the Pueblo facility gets supplies from local farmers, provides to local big box stores, and what the larger impact of the closure of the facility could have on Southern Colorado.
The company says that the mayor's office was made aware of the closure. Mayor Heather Graham provided KOAA News5 with this statement:
“It’s incredibly unfortunate to lose Russ Davis from Pueblo, but due to being out of the distribution radius they have been forced to make this decision to close. It is especially heartbreaking for so many of our own residents to be personally impacted by the job loss. I have asked the PEDCO team to host a job fair and to assist with workforce re-entry," said Mayor Graham.
Jeff Shaw, the CEO and President of the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation (PEDCO) said they are planning to host a job fair for these employees.
"Absolutely, we can bring in our partners, whether it's, you know, the workforce. We've got a lot of workforce projects that we're working on," Shaw said.
He said PEDCO can help connect the Russ Davis employees to companies in Pueblo who are hiring. Shaw said there are many employers looking for workforce.
“Oh, yeah, there's a lot of them looking, as we hear, we know most of the big manufacturers are continuing to try to hire," Shaw said.
He said people should reach out to PEDCO for help. There phone number is 719-544-2000. You can email Shaw directly at jshaw@pedco.org.
The PEDCO office is located at 301 N Main St Suite 200 Pueblo, CO 81003.
"Get us your information. I will make sure it gets out to the HR managers and the other manufacturers out there. We're certainly willing to share with our partners," Shaw said.
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