Cryan, Pou & Former Employees To Address Need for ‘Toys R Us Bill’ To Better Protect Workers’ Rights
Cryan, Pou & Former Employees To Address Need for ‘Toys R Us Bill’ To Better Protect Workers’ Rights
TRENTON – Senator Joe Cryan and Senator Nellie Pou will hold a news conference on Thursday to address the need for additional protections for employees victimized with lost jobs and lost severance pay brought on by corporate bankruptcies.
The Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to consider legislation, S-3170, sponsored by Senator Cryan and Senator Pou, that would increase the pre-notification time and severance pay for business closings, mass layoffs and transfers in the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.
This is in response to the rash of business closings and bankruptcies where workers were left jobless and without severance compensation, including Toys R Us, which closed operations at its Wayne headquarters and Flanders distribution center, resulting in 2,028 lost jobs. In this and other cases, the bankrupt companies were purchased by private equity firms and pillaged for their resources before imposing massive layoffs while top executives walked away with millions of dollars in bonuses.
The news conference will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 7th in Room 103 of the Statehouse in Trenton.
Joining Senators Cryan and Pou will be former employees of Toys R Us, Sears and Walmart, and representatives from Organization United for Respect and Make the Road New Jersey, two workers’ rights groups.
