More Layoffs for Stockton WaMu

From the Stockton Record:

One hundred employees of Washington Mutual Bank's downtown administrative center were notified Tuesday their jobs will be eliminated by the end of the year.

The Seattle-based bank's Stockton center on East Main Street is downtown's largest private employer, with 703 administrative workers and another 50 working in bank branches throughout Stockton. The layoff will leave the center with about 600 employees by year's end.

It's Washington Mutual's second 100-person layoff announcement in a year. It wasn't good news to those who promote the downtown economy.
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Fifty of the affected employees work for Washington Mutual subsidiary Long Beach Mortgage. Their back-office, loan-fulfillment jobs will end on a staggered schedule until the office is shut down sometime in April.

"Our decision is a reflection of the weakening overall of the subprime mortgage market," corporate spokesman Tim McGarry said, noting that the bank remains committed to the subprime market and will transfer operations to existing offices in Dublin and Anaheim.
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McGarry said another 50 Washington Mutual employees working in custodial operations within the loan servicing department were informed Tuesday their jobs will end this year, with half ceasing July 31 and the remainder at the end of the year.