It’s the big, sudden layoffs or closings that really get our attention—when hundreds are let go at John Deere plants across the state, or Tyson closes in Perry.

Companies don’t generally want the bad press that goes along with that. So some are trying something new, and it may be even more insidious:

It’s called rolling layoffs, or forever layoffs. Bosses make smaller cuts, but they do it throughout the year—adding up to big layoffs without many people noticing.

As soon as I heard that term, I immediately thought of one Iowa company in particular that has been doing this: Wells Fargo, and namely at their campus in West Des Moines, which employs around 11,000 workers.

The top of the Wells Fargo building in Des Moines. (Pat Rynard/Iowa Starting Line)

Looking at historical data from Iowa’s WARN Act website—which tracks the layoffs that large companies are mandated by law to submit—Wells Fargo has laid off a total of 461 workers in 2025 from its Jordan Creek campus alone.

Certainly, that’s not the largest number of workers lost by one company in 2025. Across all its Iowa plants, John Deere laid off 598 workers in 2025. But those were spread out, and in larger batches—sometimes hundreds at a time—and, thus, got more attention.

By contrast, Wells Fargo’s largest single-day layoff was 63 workers on Dec. 26. The company was far more likely to lay off a couple to a few dozen at a time, normally one to two times per month.

The company says they expect that trend to continue. And it’s not just Wells Fargo trying it, either.

Screenshot of graph and article from Axios taken Jan. 14, 2026.

In 2015, so-called “micro-firings” made up 38% of layoffs, according to Glassdoor data. Now it’s 51%, becoming the most common type of layoff.

Are you seeing this where you work? Share your thoughts.

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Amie Rivers

Newsletter Editor, Iowa Starting Line

Member, COURIER United (WGA East)

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Senate candidate knows job crisis firsthand: Nathan Sage, a candidate for US Senate in Iowa, talks about how a downturn in the Iowa economy has affected his own wife’s job.
Union endorsements: Boilermakers Local 83 endorsed State Sen. Zach Wahls for US Senate last week. “He has consistently stood shoulder to shoulder with labor, supporting good union jobs, safe working conditions, strong benefits, and fair wages,” said Tom Dye, president of Boilermakers Local 83. // Ironworkers Local 67 endorsed Grace Van Cleave for State Senate District 17. “She will be a strong partner for our members and for communities across Iowa, and we are proud to support her as she works to build a Senate majority that fights for an Iowa that working people can afford,” said Ben Nizzi, president of Ironworkers Local 67.
The great USDA resignation: The US Department of Agriculture lost 20,300 workers in the first six months of 2025, according to a new report that dropped over the holiday break and reported by the Farm and Food File. That’s more than 18% of its 110,300-person workforce, with the majority (15,114 workers) opting to leave under President Donald Trump’s Deferred Resignation Program.
Iowa teachers suing over First Amendment rights: Two teachers from Johnston and Manchester are suing the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners for asking for complaints about them in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death.
Iowa farmers can expect bailout payments by the end of February, according to the USDA, which recently released per-acre rates coming to farmers via a federal bailout made necessary because of Trump’s tariffs and trade wars.
Iowa union members and immediate family pursuing secondary education are invited to apply for the $1,000 Mac Smith scholarship.
Voting on a union: Forty full- and part-time drivers and monitors at Durham School Services in Urbandale voted on whether to unionize with Teamsters Local 90 last month; there is still no vote total posted to the NLRB website as of this writing.

All information taken from Iowa Workforce Development’s WARN Act website. Read WARN Act and Iowa WARN Act criteria here.

Wells Fargo in West Des Moines is laying off 14 workers by Jan. 23, and 25 by Feb. 6.
10 Roads Express/10 Roads Service in Carter Lake is closing and laying off 42 workers by Jan. 30.
DRT in Carter Lake is closing and laying off 26 workers by Jan. 30.
CRST Expedited in Cedar Rapids is laying off 30 workers by Feb. 1.
Medtec/CQ Medical in Orange City is closing and laying off 33 workers by Feb. 6.

Collectively-bargained pensions—a defined benefit that gives retirees a guaranteed income—have total assets in the trillions of dollars.

And labor writer Hamilton Nolan has some ideas on what we should be doing better with those investments.

“The question is not, ‘How do we earn 7% a year on these investments to pay out retirement benefits?’ That’s the easy part,” he wrote. “The real question is, ‘How do working people use their accumulated material gains to make the world better for all working people?‘”

Read his ideas, then tell me: Should we demand more of our pensions?