TORONTO/WINDSOR—Unifor members who work at Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) rallied in Windsor and Toronto to call for urgent insolvency reform and accountability from HBC executives who continue to deny workers’ severance as liquidation nears completion.
The rallies, led by Unifor Locals 40 and 240 which represent nearly 600 HBC workers, brought attention to the devastating impact of HBC’s collapse on its workforce and the broader implications for thousands of Canadian workers caught in corporate bankruptcies.
“Unifor is calling on HBC to honour its legal responsibilities to workers and urges federal legislators to overhaul Canada’s insolvency laws to put workers first,” Unifor Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi told HBC members at the Toronto rally. “It’s an absolute disgrace that executives are walking away with $3 million dollars in bonuses while our members—some with decades of service—are being denied the severance and benefits they’ve negotiated, earned, and rightfully deserve.”
Many Unifor members are owed tens of thousands of dollars in severance, benefits, and unpaid wages. Some workers with 20 or 30 years of service are now facing unemployment with no compensation as they await the full termination of the workforce so they can apply for the Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP), which caps at approximately $8,844.
“The WEPP cap leaves workers with significant financial loss while HBC executives and secured creditors like banks and landlords walk away with payouts,” said Unifor Local 40 President Dwayne Gunness. “It’s an injustice to all Canadian workers who are caught in the middle when companies fail and collapse—the laws must be changed to make workers priority one.”
HBC moved to cut workers’ commissions during the liquidation process but reversed course after the union filed a grievance that claimed that the move violated legally binding collective agreements.
While holding HBC accountable, Unifor is also calling on the federal government to address the systemic gaps in Canada’s bankruptcy and insolvency laws. Under current legislation, workers are treated as “unsecured creditors” and often placed at the bottom of the compensation hierarchy—behind banks, landlords, and other investors.
Unifor is urging Parliament to implement the following reforms: raise the cap on the Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP), broaden eligibility and improve access to WEPP for all affected workers, strengthen super-priority status for workers’ claims in bankruptcy proceedings, hold corporate directors personally liable for unpaid compensation, and to establish trust-held or federally guaranteed funds to ensure workers are fully compensated in the event of corporate failure.
“This is about setting a precedent for how workers are treated in corporate failures moving forward—what HBC is doing to its workforce should be outlawed, and we’ll continue fighting to ensure that workers are paid every penny they’re owed,” says Unifor Local 240 President Jodi Nesbitt.