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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Haggen workers’ union calls for slowdown in sell-off of stores

Angel Gonzalez Seattle Times

SEATTLE – The union for most Haggen workers, objecting to the haste with which the struggling grocer wants to liquidate the bulk of its footprint, asked a bankruptcy judge Friday to slow the process so more stores could be sold relatively intact.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, in a court filing submitted Friday, called Haggen’s strategy “precipitous and misguided” and tantamount to “putting the cart before the horse.”

Last month Haggen, based outside Seattle, asked a bankruptcy court in Delaware to authorize going-out-of-business sales and possible liquidation of 100 stores that the company says are costing it $400,000 a day to keep open.

At the same time the company has been seeking to sell off those stores, and last week it reached a tentative deal with two California buyers for 36 of the locations.

Haggen’s Liberty Lake store is one slated for closure by Nov. 25.

UFCW said the court should reject Haggen’s plans, or at least delay the process for several weeks so the stores can be sold as a “going concern,” rather than in a liquidation fire-sale, to protect employees and creditors.

Haggen’s expedited sale “does not preserve the opportunity to determine, with the participation of interested parties, whether there can be a seamless transition to going concern buyers who would retain the same employees that have served the stores and their customers for decades,” the union’s filing said.

Haggen didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.