A worker cleans the sidewalk outside a closed Sears store in Dartmouth, Npva Scotia on October 11, 2017. The court approved Sears Canada's bid to liquidate its roughly 130 remaining stores, the decision will send shoppers, employees and mall owners in dozens of smaller Canadian cities scrambling to find alternative shopping destinations, jobs and tenants.
Photo Credit: CP / Andrew Vaughan

Sears stores begin liquidation sales today

Sears begins their final chapter with liquidation sales today in stores across Canada.

Managers and former executives walk away with big cash bonuses

The retailer, that was part of the Canadian landscape in 130 locations, is leaving many former employees in deep financial trouble, while managers and former executives walk away with big cash bonuses.

Sears executives, Daniel Westreich, left, Associate V-P, Senior Corporate Counsel at Sears Inc., Philip Mohtadi, centre, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Sears Inc., Billy Wong, right, Chief Financial Officer at Sears Inc., arrive at the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto on Friday, October 13, 2017. Sears was seeking approval for a full liquidation of its remaining stores as early as today, putting another 12,000 employees out of a job. © CP/Nathan Denette

Bonuses were only to be paid if the company had found a way to continue.

Sears Canada, however, received court approval yesterday, to continue paying retention bonuses to managers, executives and key staff overseeing the liquidation, totalling $2.8 million (Cdn).

From this past June when the company filed for insolvency until it closes for good, Sears will have paid $6.5 million in bonus payments to head office staff.

“I’m really upset. I’m disgusted with this company”

“Can I use the F-word?” Mina Iannino asked a CBC reporter in Toronto.

Iannino lost her Sears merchandising job in March, and then had her severance cut off in June. 

“I’m really upset. I’m disgusted with this company,” she said about the ongoing bonus payments.

She is one of more than 16,000 employees across the country either already out of work, or soon to lose their jobs.

Most will only get tiny severances and eventually reduced pensions.

The staff receiving the retention bonuses will manage the liquidation sales, the sale of Sears assets, human resources, pensions issues and financial matters.

It will be a different Christmas shopping season for the many Canadians who over the last 65 years, counted on Sears to provide everything from the toys under the tree to the snowsuits and boots needed for another winter season.

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