Tidyman’s Layoffs Hit 83 Workers Odegard Says Remaining Employees Are Safe

Eighty-three people who work for Tidyman’s Warehouse Foods learned Friday that they are out of a job.

The Greenacres-based company terminated 8 percent of its work force, citing increased competition from other grocery stores as the reason.

“All I did was cry all day yesterday,” said Judy Wigen, who worked for the company for 18 years as a checker before the announcement. “I’m in a state of shock.”

“Just this morning, they drew straws to see who would tell me,” said another employee who wished to remain anonymous.

Wigen said she had heard rumors for weeks that the cuts were coming. “(Morale) has been very, very bad,” she said. But employees didn’t know for sure until this week.

Acting Chief Executive Officer Ric Odegard said remaining employees shouldn’t fear further cuts. The company will now study other ways of cutting costs, he said.

“This is it, no more layoffs. I don’t like it, the employees don’t like it. Our intent is to have one layoff, and one only.”

Odegard took over the helm at Tidyman’s April 15 after the retirement of President and CEO Jack Heuston. Odegard denies Friday’s terminations have anything to do with a rumored sale of Tidyman’s.

“We have no intent to sell the company,” he said.

Tidyman’s operates 10 stores in Washington, Idaho and Montana. Of the 83 people who lost their jobs, 40 worked in Spokane or North Idaho.

Patty Kilcup, a company spokeswoman, said those left jobless can apply for positions at the new Tidyman’s at 2024 N. Argonne. That 43,500-square-foot store is scheduled to open in June. Odegard added that former Tidyman’s employees will be given hiring preference, provided they seek positions they are qualified for.

Wigen said she tried applying for a job there, but was told that her rung on the payscale “didn’t fit the grid” to qualify for any of the openings. As an 18-year employee, Wigen made $12.06 per hour.

“They’re trying to cut us, people who own the most stock and make the most wage,” Wigen alleged. Since Tidyman’s is an employee-owned supermarket, its workers own shares of the company.

Odegard said the cuts in personnel were not made by determining who made how much. Factors such as department efficiency and overall individual performance were studied, he said. Odegard denied that Tidyman’s discriminated in any way, and that’s why the procedure determining what jobs were cut took so long.

“(It took) two months or so to do that,” he said. “It’s not something you just do.”

In the meantime, people left jobless Friday will have to begin a job study of their own.

“Grocery is all I know,” Wigen said. “There’s nothing like having to start over again.”

, DataTimes