Springfield, USA
02 April 2008
Six Midas Muffler shops in the Pioneer Valley closed Monday when the corporate headquarters canceled the rights held by a local franchisee.
Robert Troyer, a spokesman at Midas corporate headquarters in Itasca, Ill., would not go into detail as to why franchise holder Carden Enterprises Inc. of Ludlow is no longer able to operate Midas shops in Springfield, West Springfield, Westfield, Holyoke, Greenfield and Chicopee.
The Midas shop Carden Enterprises operates in Ludlow, however, was not affected and was open today, Troyer said.
Besides the shop in Ludlow, other Midas shops in the area that are still open are located in East Longmeadow, Hadley, Northampton and Enfield, Troyer said.
"They will honor any Midas warranties," Troyer said. "Any Midas shop in the country will honor a Midas warranty."
Neither Troyer nor the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development could say how many people worked at the six closed shops.
"They work for the franchise holder, not for us," Troyer said. "Typically what happens in these situations is that the people transfer to other locations or they have their employment end."
He said Midas is looking to find a new franchise holder for the closed shops, but it might take months.
Linnea M. Walsh, a spokeswoman for state Labor and Workforce Development, said there has been an uptick in people seeking help at the state's Career Center in Greenfield.
The state's efforts to contact Carden were not successful, she said. Walsh knew of no one who was left without pay.
Thirteen Wendy's restaurants closed abruptly in July 2007 throwing 350 to 400 people out of work. Many Wendy's workers said they were not paid for their last week of work, and earlier paychecks had bounced.
No one returned phone messages left today at Carden Enterprises' corporate offices in Ludlow. The manager at the Ludlow shop, who would not give his name, said he didn't know anything about the other shops. He said employees from the other Midas locations are not working at the Ludlow shop.
Source :
www.masslive.com
