Target to Fire All Zellers Employees

[the_std]

There is/used to be a chain of budget department stores in Canada called Zellers, and I will be the first to admit that they've never been my favourite store shop at, but they've always been handy and convenient. That being said, sometime in 2011, Target bought the leases on Zellers' stores. From what I can gather, Target did not buy Zellers the company, but will take over all of their properties.

Then, just this week, I've been seeing ads all around my city saying "Ask Target for Fairness". Curious, I did a quick Google search and found this website. To quote from the website...

We are the people who work at your neighbourhood Zellers, and some of us have worked in your store for over 30 years. We love our jobs, and we are proud of what we do. Together, we have the experience to make Target a place where Canadians prefer to shop.

So when we found out that Target is letting us all go, we were surprised, confused and hurt. Target has said that we can reapply for our jobs, but the company will not recognize our experience and the important things we have earned through many years of loyal service.

So Target is walking into this deal with a lot of things set up for them - a physical infrastructure, an employee base and the supply chain, let along many other things. So I'm wondering if Target's decision to let their existing staff go, yet invite them to reapply for their jobs only to lose all seniority and earned benefits, makes sense. Obviously Zellers has been doing something wrong - selling off the bones and flesh of your entire company like that indicates a big, big problem with your business, and I could understand if they wanted to retrain the existing Zellers staff to fit with the new principles and ideas of Target, but... Like I said, I'm really not sure if this is a wise idea.

What do you guys think?

[bainsidhe]

It sucks for the Zellers employees, it really does, but it's hardly the first time this has happened and it won't be the last. I'm not familiar with this whole situation, but you said Target isn't actually buying out Zellers, is that correct? If that's true, there's even less incentive for Target to take over benefit and pay packages Zellers has in place.

[Gravekeeper]

Zellers is the Canadian Walmart. Same level of quality and service - the evil. Their stores are horrific and have not changed in the slightest in 30 years. Every Zellers I've seen has been an alarming time warp straight back to the 80s. Staff included. If they even pay attention to you at all. Usually they just wander around doing and saying stereotypical things that mall employees did in movies 30 years ago. I don't know anyone that willingly goes into a Zellers and their stores are typically ghost towns even during peak shopping hours in the biggest and busiest mall in the province here.

The one near me even *smells* like the 80s. Its a scary, empty, windowless store thats badly taken care of where you're lucky to spot another customer and none of the staff will even make eye contact with you. As an added bonus, they charge you for plastic bags at the check out and make a point of telling you this. Here's a fun game, see how many actual employees you can spot out of 45 pictures. Hell, see how many customers you can find ;p

So yeah, if you were Target, would you take on all of the staff ( and their seniority ) of a store that has been failing in pretty much every category for years? Or would you use the chance to restructure the stores into a better position for success by using this as an opportunity to sift through the employee base and keep the good ones while letting go of the problems that have obviously been entrenched there for decades?

Sucks for some, sure, but makes perfect sense from a business standpoint.

[the_std]

You know, GK, I feel the exact same way about Zellers in my province; I have not willingly shopped in one ever since I moved out on my own - five or six years ago. You're completely correct about the ghost town thing, about the ignoring employees... But I didn't want to assume it was like that all across the country, simply because I hadn't had any experience with them in any other province. So I am starting to agree with you, that the employees are just as much of a problem as the company itself.

[Ginger Tea]

Legally over here any way, IANAL and I only know of this as we are in the 11th hour of a take over, if they are taking over the company then they can't sack anyone on the first day or within a time frame (sackable offences notwithstanding), but as they are buying the lease's to the store it's a different thing all together.
One brand over here had most stores end up being totally a different kind of shop, they were downsizing or going bust and iir all branches leases were part of the deal, not just the towns you wanted, so some remained vacant due to branches already there, others had duplicates and a few just had a shop they never had till then.

[BlaqueKatt]

the company I work for was bought, our jobs were secured in the contract, through much negotiation from the owner(they wanted to do away with our facility and send us to other locations and our owner didn't think it was right to disrupt our lives like that)

[crashhelmet]

It's common practice for a company to fire or lay off everyone at another company that they buy out. Sometimes the company being bought out will fight for and make sure the terms of the deal include carrying over seniority, benefits, and the such. But not always.

That being said, this is Target that bought them out. I'm not surprised at all. Their corporate office isn't exactly known for fair and equal treatment or keeping their political ideologies a secret.

[NateSean]

If Target was able to buy out that many stores then Zeller's can't be that successful no matter how much they cry foul. There were plenty of employees at Brooks Pharmacy who basically treated the place like somewhere to hang out and get paid for it between classes. They got dropped like a rock when Rite Aid took over.

I'm not saying every employee in Zellers is poor and perhaps the majority will get their jobs back and start earning their keep very swiftly. After all, we're only hearing the side of the so called "Fairness" website.

Oh and no I'm not being biased just because I'm working for the Bullseye.

[DeltaSierra]

The one near me even *smells* like the 80s. Its a scary, empty, windowless store thats badly taken care of where you're lucky to spot another customer and none of the staff will even make eye contact with you. As an added bonus, they charge you for plastic bags at the check out and make a point of telling you this. Here's a fun game, see how many actual employees you can spot out of 45 pictures. Hell, see how many customers you can find ;p

Been to that Zellers many times and its always been a ghost-town. Finding an associate to help you is like finding a needle in a haystack and if you DO find one, you'll be told "Sorry, I don't work in this department." I'm not surprised they're letting staff go.

[Silverharp]

It sounds like Target bought the leases on the properties, but have not purchased Zellers, which means that Zellers is the one doing the firing, not Target.
The Zellers employees need to write less letters and more resumes, from what I can see.