Sears job losses are ‘devastating,’ chamber head says

By Natalie McMullen, Riley Maracle and Amanda Lorbetski

BELLEVILLE – The loss of 527 jobs from Sears Canada’s call centre and warehouse in Belleville is a devastating one, the head of the city’s chamber of commerce says.

“It’s sad. It’s devastating. It is a huge negative impact on our local economy,” Bill Saunders said Thursday. “It’s probably going to take upwards of $10 million in wages out of our local economy.”

Mayor Neil Ellis called the cuts “a major blow” and added, “It’s a sad day with any job-loss numbers like this.”

Sears announced Wednesday that is it cutting more than 1,600 employees from warehouses and call centres in various parts of the country. More than three-quarters of the layoffs – a total of 1,345 jobs – are at call centres in Belleville, Toronto and Montreal, all of which will be closed. The Belleville centre’s closing means the loss of 453 jobs.

The call-centre work will be moved to the Philippines.

Another 283 job cuts are at warehouses in Belleville, Calgary, Montreal, Vancouver, and Vaughan, Ont. In Belleville, the number of jobs cut at the College Street East warehouse is 74.

Wednesday’s announcement follows a series of layoffs by Sears in 2013, beginning with 120 jobs eliminated at the warehouse last January.

A worker who was let go from the warehouse last January, after 21 years with Sears, said he and others were required to leave the building immediately upon dismissal, without saying goodbye to colleagues.

“Layoffs have nothing to do with people. It’s just a fact of life of the business,” said the man, who spoke on condition that his name not be used.

The former employee said he hasn’t yet contacted friends who lost their jobs Wednesday because he remembers what it was like when it happened to him.

“It’s turned into such an awful place to be.”

He said he has heard that the employees were told Wednesday their jobs would end in four to nine months. He added that he was told “a bunch of people quit right on the spot.”

Mayor Ellis and the chamber’s Saunders both expressed hope that the laid-off workers will be able to find new jobs locally.

“Sears said they’ll help with retraining and resumes and any type of job relocation they can do. And the city is here to help in any way we can too,” Ellis said.

But the former employee said the city only pays lip service to helping those affected by the cuts.

“I never received help from the city. The city has no more pull than anyone else,” he told QNet News.

The scope of the cuts is too great for the city to manage, he said.

“These weren’t minimum-wage jobs. At least 300 of those people had been there 20 years, making $15 to $20 an hour – full-time jobs with benefits.”

Those who will be most affected are the ones who aren’t yet ready to retire but have worked with the company for most of their lives, he said.

“A lot of people let go (Wednesday) are 40, 50 years old, with 20 years of service.”