'I have no hope.' Sears workers are worried about their jobs after Eddie Lampert's takeover

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

It’s the dawn of a new era for Sears and Kmart — but employees are proceeding with caution.

Sears Holdings Chairman Eddie Lampert came out on top with his more than $5 billion bid to rescue around 50,000 jobs and more than 400 stores from liquidation Wednesday morning, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Lampert’s takeover is a temporary sigh of relief for tens of thousands of employees who fretted over the likely loss of their jobs when the company filed for bankruptcy in October 2018. But some workers are now worried about what the company will look like under the billionaire investor‘s ownership.

“I have no hope. I really don’t,” says Carole Brown, who has worked at a Kmart in New York City since 1997 and hopes to retire in 2020. “I can’t see nothing changing, unless (Lampert) decides to make a 360-degree turn. That’s the only way I see any hope for the company. If it survives by next year, it will be by the grace of God.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/i-have-no-hope-sears-workers-are-worried-about-their-jobs-after-eddie-lamperts-takeover/ar-BBSliEd?li=BBnb7Kz

Vulture capitalism.

[guillaumeb]

1. Recommended.

Lampert has been following the vulture capitalism playbook. Selling off assets and downsizing.

And charging the company for his expertise.

[crazycatlady]

2. It is by the grace of God that the company is still around

Lampert has been running it into the ground. I was in K-mart right before Christmas. Their electronics section was featuring cases for the iPhone 5 (2012).

[Hoyt]

3. Like most companies that don't adapt, this is where they end up. To avoid Lampert's "takeover,"

Sears could have just closed some time ago. What good would that have done?

It's sad that they got here, but Lampert didn't cause it. Although the odds are slim, he's the only thing that has kept Sears from closing months ago, if not years ago. As I understand it, the remains for Sears were up for auction for anyone -- you, me, employees, trump, or anyone else to try to make it work. Lampert is it. His kind is sort of a mortician, although well paid. It's like Toys-R-Us, their debt was downgraded to junk long before vultures took over. They were dead years before they closed, and vultures were the only thing that kept them going for a little longer. No one else wanted them.

I'm no fan of vulture capitalists, but they are like coyotes, raccoons, hyenas, maggots, bacteria, etc., part of like and maybe a necessary evil.

Very sorry for the employees, but what is the alternative? There is no one left to bail them out because it's too late.

[TexasTowelie]

4. I'm always surprised when I see someone say,

"a 360-degree turn." That means that you are going in a circle.

Hopefully, Sears can somehow get their act in order and be a viable company. I have sympathy for those that already lost their jobs and for those that remain employed. It's difficult to keep morale up at work when you see friends leave under trying circumstances and knowing that you will be pushed even harder to produce more.