Peoria Charter Coach forced to layoff 95% of workforce

Posted on July 15, 2020
The company said it went from 140 employees in March to only eight as of Wednesday. (Facebook/Peoria Charter Coach)

 

By Neil Doyle

PEORIA – Peoria Charter Coach was forced to layoff 132 workers due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The company said it went from 140 employees in March to just eight as of Wednesday.

“With the PPP Loan money running out and business still not returning, the future of our company (and our industry) is in jeopardy,” according to a Facebook post.

During the pandemic, Peoria Charter temporarily suspended its service to Bloomington-Normal. The Champaign-Urbana schedule runs only once a day.

The company listed several actions its taking during this time:

  • We have sent multiple letters to Governor JB Pritzker asking for a small part of the $900 million that the State of Illinois has dedicated to businesses which have been “impacted by the pandemic.” We have received no response and no money. With 99.2% of Peoria Charter’s business disappearing since the Executive Order was made on March 20, we just don’t know how a business could be more “impacted” than that?
  • We have been reaching out to Senator Tammy Duckworth and Senator Dick Durbin for their support on the CERTS Act, which has money specifically dedicated to the Motorcoach Industry (S.4150). If you fill out the information on this link (https://p2a.co/ONoZXmx), it will send them a letter of support for the CERTS Act.
  • We have been reaching out to Rep. Darin LaHood and Rep. Cheri Bustos (and we are working on getting in contact with Rep. Rodney Davis) about the remaining amounts of money for PPP Loan being dedicated back to companies who are still going without business due to COVID-19.

Neil Doyle can be reached at [email protected]

Another sad day in the 2020 chapter of Peoria Charter.. we have been forced to lay off 95% of our workforce again. From…

Posted by Peoria Charter Coach on Wednesday, July 15, 2020

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