No severance, no pay, no notice

Photo: Jennifer Zielinski

More than 300 employees in nine locations across Alberta and B.C. are jobless today after their company closed its doors without notice.

Kelowna mover Nathan Miller and his mom Dawn Miller had worked at Williams Moving and Storage in Kelowna more than 16 years when they got the surprising news Wednesday afternoon.

Nathan Miller says they all crowded around a teleconference call at 3 p.m. and heard company president and CEO Jim Williams deliver the bad news.

“They brought everyone in company wide and said 'Thanks for your service over the 86 years, and effective immediately Williams operations are terminated and everyone is terminated,'” said Miller. “We are talking a lot of people. My mom and I have been there 16 years, and that was actually very common. A lot of the staff had 10 years plus with the company. Some had even been there 40 years, and there was no notice, no heads-up, no nothing.”

Miller says the company told employees it had been struggling for the last five years and was no longer financially viable.

The company made the announcement the day before payday, leaving hundreds of employees out hundreds of thousands of dollars. Miller was a contractor for Williams Moving and says he is personally out more than $22,000, while some of his colleagues are out more than $30,000 – money they've been told they will never see.

Another employee, who asked not to be named, shared Miller's sentiment and said she was heartbroken over the news. Some employees had worked there longer than she's been alive and are now being told they get no owed vacation pay or severance. She's also concerned for long-term employees' pension plans.

“It is just awful, no severance pay, nothing for these people. It is so tragic for those who have been there a long time, for those who planned on retiring soon.”

Mark Cameron, Unifor union rep for about 125 Williams Moving members, says the news is hitting employees hard and the timing was a surprise to everyone.

“We knew when we were at the table with them last spring negotiating a contract that the company had not been doing well. But in recent months, in the fall and into the winter, things were on the upswing, bookings were up, people were busy, so the timing of this was a real shock.”

According to Cameron, employees are guaranteed the first $3,000 owed to them under a section of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, but for many that is not nearly enough.

“In many cases, our members are out tens of thousands of dollars because a lot of them were owner/operators, so (they have) fuel costs and labour costs for the month of December. They are not going to recoup those dollars, so people are very upset, and I don't blame them.”

He says the company has informed the union it will try to make as much money as possible by auctioning its assets, and then come up with a plan for creditors.

“Obviously, at this point, we are expecting pennies to the dollar,” says Cameron.

He urges unionized employees to contact their Unifor Local 114 office for assistance, to apply for employment assistance immediately and to also get help applying under the WEPPA program to get their $3,000.

The company has not returned calls for comment. It has shut down its website, phone system and social media accounts, leaving customers who have booked work with them lost for answers.

Miller is hoping to fill the need. He has a local moving business and would like to help out anyone who had booked with Williams and is now stuck. You can check out his company's information here.

“This means there are a lot of quality people who are left without a job, and I am going to do my best to see if I can find work for some of those people. These are people who are moving industry specialists, so there is a lot of knowledge and experience there. We are going to try to just move forward, step up and step in,” says Miller.

A second moving company, Thatguyvanlines.com, is also offering 20 per cent off to anyone who had booked moving or storage with Williams.