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City to try to get Hi-Lo workers new employment
By adamg on Mon, 01/24/2011 - 10:47pm
The mayor's office has scheduled a Friday meeting with employees of the soon-to-be ex-Hi-Lo in Jamaica Plain to give them help finding new work - possibly even at the Whole Foods that will replace the store.
Mayor Menino and other city officials are also scheduled to meet with Whole Foods managers to try to get them to hire as many of the workers as possible and to "discuss how the company can become an active community partner and contribute to the vibrant culture of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood," according to a statement from the mayor's office on the city's "rapid response plan" on the Hi-Lo closing.
The meeting for employees starts at 10:30 a.m. at the Connolly library, 433 Centre St.
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Comments
That's nice
Is Menino going to meet with the new owners if any of my bars ever get sold? What businesses in Boston qualify for this special use of city government resources?
Are you . . .
. . . selling any bars?
I'm not a bar owner
But I work in 'em...so you never know...
troll fail
troll fail
Not Really
Will makes a decent point. Is there a cutoff for which businesses deserve to have the city step in and which don't? Where does the line get drawn between who gets help finding a job and who doesn't?
If it helps to frame it a different way: Are there better uses of city resources and personnel than in giving advice to a private enterprise that's probably fully capable of making its own decisions? Or in trying to secure jobs for folks who probably could have figured out how to fill out an employment application at Whole Foods all on their own?
As with Will, just asking. Enlightenment would be more appreciated than sarcasm or snark.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Publicity
All about generating headlines for His Honor. High profile problems get high profile responses, low profile problems get low profile responses.
Why does one business get
Why does one business get 'corporate welfare' from the city but another does not? It reeks of favoritism and since it involves the expenditure of taxpayers' money, someone should be asking that question.
Not really
What the city is doing for the workers is something they already provide through one office or another: counseling on things such as filing for unemployment, looking for work, etc. They're just doing it at a local library instead of downtown, which is a good thing.
Whether they'd do that for, say, a bar that employed 35 people but which didn't attract the attention of newspapers from outside the neighborhood, though, is a good question. Ditto for the jawboning of Whole Foods execs. But it's not like the city's, oh, giving Whole Foods a $10 million tax break to open up a new store, or even doling out one of those nice loans certain bars (remember CF Donovan's?) and other small businesses (Bay State Banner?) have gotten.
But the City is giving Whole Foods a bit of a hassle...
...when so far, we have not seen it asking for any special treatment, so there's no need to refer to CF Donovans or the Banner.
The Mayor inserting himself when a solvent, competent business is trying to set up in town does not exactly send the message that Boston is open for business. It sends the message that even in this job starved environment, a completely self-sufficient business that offers employment and benefits needs to kow tow to the local goons. Yes, it would be nice for WF to interview the Hi-Lo workers, but whether they hire them should be completely up to WF.
The problem is the complete inconsistency with which the City now deals with businesses.
no kidding
No one has ever helped me find a job.
Really?
No one? Ever? Not a father- not an uncle- a friend? No one ever helped you find a job? Not a soul huh? Just you and the want ads?
Yes?
I've gotten all of my jobs by responding to ads. Is that unusual?
It is these days. Most jobs
It is these days. Most jobs these days are found through connections...with high unemployment and lots of qualified people vying for jobs, it helps to have connections to get a job.
Having patronized HL, I can
Having patronized HL, I can say customer service was not the employees' strong suit, at least the cashiers. In fact, most spoke only halting english -- which made the place all the more authentic. Of course I'm sure they were paid crap, so maybe they'd be more motivated at WF....
I hope that the mayor let's
I hope that the mayor let's WF decide if the employees are suitably qualified to hire. I'm all for asking WF to interview all of the employees, but asking / requiring them to hire them seems too much. Also, it's interesting to me that there's so much pressure on WF to "engage the community", when Stop and Shop and Hi Lo never did...
I think that WF should be
I think that WF should be asked to interview all of the Hi Lo employees, but should in no way be required to hire any or all of them.
It's very interesting to me that there's such a double standard about Hi Lo and Stop and Shop vs WF on "engaging the community". Neither HL nor S&S has ever really done anything for the community, except let people buy their stuff and provide some jobs.
Whole Foods needs better PR people
The first thing WF should have said after the announcement was that they would interview all HL employees and offer positions to those who were qualified to work at WF.
'bit o' history: Stop & Shop,
'bit o' history:
Stop & Shop, thru the JP NDC & the City, had jobs training program before it opened
let's hope they utilize the same model.
there's 100 jobs to fill, and a great opportunity for the existing bodegas to capture more customers
Best comment yet
The City is not "forcing" anyone to do anything. They mobilized the resources for people to file claims, learn about job training programs, and. via WF, learn about jobs in their other outlets. They've also talked with the local bodega owners about their capacity to fill the gap in terms of Spanish foods. Sounds like everything a government that cares about the little guy ought to be doing.
But it's Fossas, not Fosas :)