Jabil calls holiday plant closings and layoffs 'normal course of business'

St. Petersburg-based Jabil Inc., one of the largest companies in the region with $33 billion in revenue, calls the temporary closure of six plants and the layoff of nearly 1,400 employees in California during the holiday season the “normal course of business this time of year.”

In an emailed statement to the Business Observer Wednesday evening, Jabil’s spokesman Timur Aydin writes that when production schedules are favorable the company enacts “temporary site closures across multiple sites” every year during the holidays.