A rally by union members from Fingerhut Cos. Inc. is scheduled to take place on Friday at the Cincinnati headquarters of Federated Department Stores Inc., said Jane Palmbach, northern district joint board manager for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE).
Some 500 union members and supporters are expected.
The union will protest the layoff of 3,300 workers from the Minnetonka catalog business on Friday, April 5, and demand that the continue operating.
“We can’t wait to give them a taste of what it’s like to go to work and not be able to get into their jobs, which is what they are doing to 3,300 employees,” Palmbach said. Federated did not return calls by press time.
Severance packages have been sent to non-union employees with a layoff date of Friday, said Ben Saukko, Fingerhut spokesperson.
Union employees will also be laid off as of Friday, but will not receive severance packages because negotiations over the severance package is ongoing.
Last week, a deadline of April 5 was set to let go the 3,300 employees from Minnesota and Tennessee locations.
Federated also announced last week that it will seek bidders to purchase the company piecemeal, and begin to liquidate the Fingerhut catalog.
The department store chain said that though it was not giving up on Peter Lytle, the existing bidder, “enough uncertainty exists” after five weeks of his due diligence on Fingerhut that it would seek additional buyers.
“For Federated to say five weeks for the process of due diligence is ridiculous,” Palmbach said. “As long as the deal is making progress, then they should continue.”
Though UNITE is protesting the company’s closing, it continues to negotiate severance packages.
“We are willing to offer severance benefits for [union] members that are in excess of those provided for in existing union contracts,” Ronald Tysoe, Federated vice chairman, said in a statement announcing the layoffs.
“What we really want is for the plant to stay open and never have to utilize those benefits,” Palmbach said.
Some 1,500 Fingerhut employees are members of UNITE.
The company issued federal notices to 3,700 people about their impending lay offs in January.
On Jan. 16 Federated said that it would liquidate Fingerhut unless a buyer stepped forward.
Lytle has said he wants to buy all the assets of the company.
Federated has said it expects Fingherhut’s assets to generate approximately $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion.
