CompUSA

Former CompUSA employee John Mahan was one of the workers at the chain lucky enough to get a severance check in the sell-off by the private equity arm of Gordon Brothers Group LLC. John was kind enough to share the check with Brandworkers. You can take a look at it here.

For more background on the irresponsible business practices of Gordon Brothers which promised proper treatment of CompUSA's landlords, creditors, and customers but not workers, check out this internal document laying out the severance plan. According to the document, to qualify for severance employees needed to:

1) Work until the bitter end of their CompUSA location which for some no doubt required passing up other employment opportunities; and

2) Be a full-time employee; and

3) Work at CompUSA for more than a year; and

4) Not be covered by a contract; and

5) Not be offered a new job should their location continue operation under a new owner (ostensibly even if the new offer included reduced wages or work hours).

And don't miss the the document actually firing the workers.

When a Maytag manufacturing plant shuts down, there is rightly condemnation from the community, certain media outlets, and some elected officials. When thousands of retail workers are thrown out of work with inadequate severance while a private equity firm makes millions, where is the outrage?

Retail workers make the economy work. Together, we can make sure their contribution is recognized and respected.

Please take just a moment to sign the Brandworkers CompUSA petition.

For more on Brandworkers' response to the layoffs, check out, "Brandworkers Takes Action for CompUSA Employees in Private Equity Sell-Off".

Cutting Costs, Destroying Lives: The Circuit City’s of Yesterday Live On

--This March will mark the one-year anniversary of Circuit City’s laying off of 3,400 employees nationwide. What is especially disturbing about this ‘cost-cutting’ crusade—besides its scale--was its explicit targeting of higher-paid employees. And after being told literally on the day of in some cases, workers were told that they could re-apply for open positions after a ten-week “cooling off” period. The audacity of this measure nearly escapes words: experienced workers could re-apply—after ‘waiting’ two and half months--for lousier positions, and work lousier hours for lousier pay? The fact that such a measure was taken—and that it was so sparsely covered in the media—is highly indicative of the often-demoralized and neglected state of retail workers today.

The computer and electronics retail giant, CompUSA, is in the process of liquidating nearly all of its stores, leaving thousands of workers without a job.