After union joins bankruptcy case, struggling grocer announces it will shutter more outposts.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
After union joins bankruptcy case, struggling grocer asked judge to allow it to shutter more outposts, including seven more in Oregon.
The seven in Oregon to be shuttered:
- Ashland
- Baker City
- Beaverton
- Milwaukie
- Sherwood
- Springfield
- Tigard
In court filings, Haggen’s lawyers say the store closures are “imperative” and urged the court to allow the grocer to start the process of closing the stores immediately. Haggen owes its creditors more than $270 million, and the filing says closing the stores would help ease the grocer’s negative cash flow.
According to the filings, together, the 100 stores are losing Haggen about $400,000 per day. Closing the stores, Haggen argues, would save it about $60 million over the remainder of the fiscal year.
Haggen, which has hired investment banking firm Sagent Advisors to explore a sale of its stores, said it expects the sale of inventory and other assets in the 100 additional stores to yield about $125.6 million, giving the grocer a “necessary and significant cash infusion,” the documents say.
(SOURCE: OregonLive.com)
Approximately 130 workers at Haggen’s Klamath Falls store have lost their jobs.
Haggen’s workers’ union, the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), is included as one of the seven groups on the committee of unsecured creditors for Haggen’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, a decision UFCW spokesman Tom Geiger lauded as a win.
“It’s important for workers to have a voice at the table, and this helps workers have a voice at that table,” he said.
(SOURCE: Portland Business Journal)
RELATED NEWS: Union officials bemoan effect of Haggen’s bankruptcy on workers; Haggen files for bankruptcy; Haggen suing Albertsons for $1B
