Majority of Kmart warehouse workers had final day Thursday

By Ed Runyan | February 19, 2019 at 12:05a.m.

Only ‘handful’ of workers remain

BAZETTA

From a high of about 900 employees at its peak, the Kmart Distribution Center on Perkins Jones Road went down to a “handful” of union employees after about 55 worked their last day Thursday.

Dave Green, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, which represents the workers, said the union is providing assistance at the union hall to help them with future employment.

“The majority of the production down there has ceased. There is still a handful of people who will be working through the end of the month, but most of the work is finished,” Green said.

“It’s been tough on those folks and their families and the community,” he said.

Sears Holdings Corp. notified the 59 remaining workers in early November the facility would close Feb. 18. Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy protection in early October.

In early December, a hedge fund run by former Sears Holdings Chairman Edward Lampert offered a $4.6 billion bid for 120 distribution centers, 500 Sears and Kmart stores and the Sears headquarters.

The Bazetta distribution center was among the 120, according to 21-WFMJ TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner. A decision on the bid is pending.

Sears Holdings has not returned messages regarding the distribution center, and an employee working the front entrance to the warehouse refused to comment Monday and in November.

There were about 15 vehicles in the parking lot near the main entrance and a small number of truck trailers near one loading dock area Monday. An area along North Park Avenue that typically holds a large number of trailers has been empty since last week.

Kevin Jaskowick, who started working at the distribution center in 1982 when it opened, said there were about 66 workers when he left in November to have knee surgery. At its peak in the 1990s, there were about 900 people working three shifts.

But as Kmart stores closed, the amount of business at the facility and the number of workers dropped 90 percent.

“It was exciting,” he said of working there when it was that busy. It was also disappointing to watch it drop in importance – “something that big and powerful reduced down to what it was at the end,” he said.

“That place was so massive,” he said. “The only time it went down was for a few hours on Sunday.” It has 500-foot-long rows of storage modules into which pallet jacks deliver pallets.

Workers would walk through the multiple-level modules, tagging and moving cartons to a conveyor. He estimated it has 100 loading docks.

“It started years ago with layoffs,” he said of the decline of Kmart. “It was like a family on life support for six months, and you’re just waiting for the end. We knew it was coming for the last couple of years.”

Jaskowick said he’s optimistic that he will find something to replace his job of 36 years. “I got a lot of good training in there,” he said.