In response to union demands, Federated Department Stores Inc. said it is taking all steps to find a buyer for Fingerhut Cos. but has no plans to resume catalog mailings.
The Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), had raised three demands before a rally of hundreds of employees last week, saying that Federated's actions were not on par with its statements. The union wanted catalog mailings restarted, warning notices rescinded and scripts at call centers returned to normal.
But Federated signaled that it would not resume catalog mailings. "We said on Jan. 16 that the last catalog would be mailed in late January, and it has been," the company said in a statement.
Federated also said that its preference from the outset was to take all appropriate steps to find a buyer for Fingerhut while making it clear that Fingerhut would close unless a serious buyer emerged in the near future. "Nothing that is being done now is irreversible should a legitimate buyer be found soon, but the process of preparing for an eventual closure is continuing," the company said.
UNITE had also demanded that the company return to regular call center practices when speaking with customers. Several weeks ago the company made changes to how credit is offered and talked about liquidating the company in conversations with customers, union representative Jane Palmbach said Friday.
Federated said that ongoing steps to tighten credit and reduce risk of bad debt were continuing and that new Fingerhut credit accounts were being opened daily and charges were being accepted on existing accounts.
UNITE represents 1,500 Fingerhut employees who work in distribution centers and the returns area. Another 4,500 non-union employees work in customer call centers and in the corporate headquarters in Minnetonka, MN.
In a related development, to help laid off Fingerhut workers, similar bills Friday were introduced in the House and Senate to shift part of a $95 million surplus from a worker's compensation fund to a state program that retrains dislocated workers, according to news reports.
Federated announced Jan. 16 that it would shut down the 54-year-old Fingerhut catalog business. Four potential buyers have surfaced. They are Minneapolis businessman Paul Ellarby; Peter Lytle, a business turnaround specialist from Wayzata; Tom Petters, owner of Petters Cos. and Redtag Inc., in Eden Prairie; and an unnamed group of New York investors.
