Some 70 employees at the Marystown Dominion store received their termination notices Thursday night.
Loblaws/Dominion Newfoundland District-Manager Robert Cahill, along with a company Public Relations representative, met with most of the store's employees in Marystown to deliver the news. The store will close Jan. 31, 2010.
CAW Local 597 Union president Bill King, visibly upset after the meeting, said official notices were given to the workers, some of whom have been employed at the store since it opened in the Peninsula Mall in 1979.
"According to department of labour regulations, a company with more than 50 workers must give eight weeks notice. They will now be given their written notices.
"I pushed for this in our last round of negotiations Thursday past (Nov. 5), so severance packages could be negotiated and the employees could get on with their lives."
Dominion had announced in June it was closing its Marystown store because it could not reach a satisfactory lease arrangement with the owners of the Peninsula Mall - Econo Malls. Dominion wanted only a two-year lease to go forward, but the mall owners insisted on a longer term.
Originally the company announced the store would close the end of October, but that date was extended to Jan. 3, 2010 and now the final date is the end of January.
Some employees will be retained while the location is cleaned up. The company has until the end of February to vacate the mall.
Mr. King said he's disturbed "a company grossing $30 billion a year is suggesting its stores in rural Newfoundland are not as profitable as they should be.
"I'll be lobbying our national union (Canadian Auto Workers), the mall owners and the mayor (of Marystown) to try and find a way to keep the store in this town."
He expressed another concern "this could be the tip of the iceberg," in dealings with other Dominion stores throughout the province. Loblaws Inc. operates about a dozen stores under the Dominion banner.
Mr. King admitted "it's a fact rural communities are losing their people while more people are living in the city (St. John's) where the stores are busier."
The union president noted it was only a couple of years ago Dominion had considered plans to build an independent building of its own to house its store in Marystown; build a new store in Clarenville and increase the size of the store in Bay Roberts but these plans were shelved.
He did indicate a couple of stores in St. John's have expanded.
Negotiations for a new contract for Dominion employees in the province have been underway since September, with the current contract set to expire Dec. 6. Talks are to resume Nov. 23 and 24, and Mr. King is hoping a new agreement will be in place in early 2010.
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