So, there have been rumors for years about a competitor (Price Cutter) buying out our 4 stores in Springfield. It was finally announced that they did, thus the last day of operations is on January 3rd 2015. Anyone else ever have gone through something like this? It was weird because our store management knew about the rumors and didn't think that they were true, which was early as 2 days ago in our huddle where they said they were aware. Also our pharmacy had been shut down without notice yesterday morning before the announcement. I had read some comments on our local news' Facebook sites that mention a possible HIPPA violation because many medical records were transferred to wherever the nearest Walgreens was. 59 days and counting until whatever is left of a total of 400 employees spread out over 4 stores are out of a job.
That's crazy. I've never heard of any stores around here closing so i don't know what's going to happen. Did they offer any of you a job at another location? (I bet the managers will keep their jobs! -_-) You need to start looking for another job no, unless there are any other stores you could transfer to.
There should be a "Store closing" section of your union handbook that dictates the local policy related to this situation. Mine dictates that they must notify you at least 4 weeks before closure or sale of store. You need to find out what the facts are, whether or not they are going to be looking for transfers to other locations or if everyone will be terminated as a result. Since they are buying up a slew of stores, my guess is it might be in your best interest to put in an application with the new owners if there are no other Krogers in a 25 mile radius. When Kroger bought all of the Schnucks locally, they would have priority for existing schnuck's workers and the majority were rehired under the Kroger banner.
I worked @ a Kroger store in Indianapolis that closed in 2009. I had a list of Kroger stores I could choose from. Had I not decided to continue with Kroger, I was offered a severance package around 5K.
We found out yesterday no severance packages will be offered for reasons unclear, heard 2 things. 1 was that they couldn't afford it, or, 2 that we were considered to not be meeting expectations. Oh, and our store manager threatened to write me up the other night for stopping to chat with a co-worker for literally a couple of seconds. The kicker is he was off the clock and on vacation, shopping with his wife. He proceeded to chew out the FES for a few minutes privately, then told the assistant store manager to proceed with the write-up. Thankfully our ASM isn't a jerk like our SM, and refused since it would just scare more people away from the now sinking ship of Dillons. The ASM let me know the next day to try and stay busy since we have to still provide for our customers, and also since our store manager has been on vacation since the announcement that he just doesn't understand how difficult it is to stay focused knowing what is coming.
