Synovus, Capital One cutting Columbus jobs

Columbus-based Synovus Financial Corporation said Wednesday they were cutting back 230 positions.

Company officials say that’s out of 650 posts in total among their five-state operation, and that over half the losses were due to attrition. The cutback will be spread over the next two years.

Synovus is Georgia’s second-largest banking institution.

In addition, The Associated Press reports that Capital One it will close its GreenPoint Mortgage
servicing center in Columbus, eliminating 220 jobs by the end of the year, including customer service, production support, collections and investor reporting.

Atlanta-based Simmons Bedding also plans to close its Mableton plant and lay off 103 employees this month.

Simmons Chairman and CEO Charlie Eitel says the Sept. 18 layoffs come amid "excess capacity" after the company expanded operations, and "difficult times" in the bedding and home furnishings industries.

Local manufacturing will move to plants in Waycross and Charlotte, N.C. The plant had reduced shifts from two to one this spring, cut about 50 jobs and transferred operations to a plant in Dallas.

The cutbacks come as 59,090 Georgians filed first-time unemployment claims in August, according to Department of Labor officials - a 72-percent rise since last year.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the latest job cuts.

(The AP contributed to this report)