A Burlington business in operation since 1948 left employees on their own following a buyout by a Quebec-based company.
Cougar Shoes, which makes those iconic boots likely sitting in your closet waiting for a snowy day, was purchased by Pajar, a Canadian footwear and outwear manufacturer headquartered in Quebec.
On May 2, employees were shocked to hear they were being let go, and waited to find out if they’d effectively won a layoff lottery. The news came just hours after workers held a retirement party for another long-time employee.
“We got home to see an email saying there was going to be a town hall on Thursday at 1 p.m., no agenda, nothing,” a former employee who wishes to remain anonymous told BurlingtonToday. “It was mandatory to be in person, not something you could log in to with Teams. We were all wondering what was going on.”
The company COO, Chris Jasiewicz, told employees the business wasn’t running well, the employee said. Major layoffs were coming, which the company hoped would be temporary. The meeting started at approximately 1 p.m., and employees had to wait for a follow up email at 4:30 p.m. to find out if they had made the cut.
“If you didn’t get an email at 4:30, it was status quo work,” the employee said.
The approximately 25 employees who worked out of the Burlington headquarters started their own email threads, asking who had been laid off. The employee who spoke to BurlingtonToday remained on, until another email on June 17 let employees know the business was shutting down at the end of August.
Some were kept until the end of September, but the employee is unsure if there is anyone left in the old headquarters. Pajar Canada did not respond to BurlingtonToday’s request for comment.
“Some people said they wanted to stick it out because they would get severance, that the company would take care of them for the years of dedication, sweat, for the passion,” the employee said. “People at Cougar didn’t work for the company, we were part of the company. I worked on Christmas day behind the scenes. We took it to heart.”
Those who were laid off in May never received a severance package, the employee said. Benefits also stopped immediately. Though a bonus pay of $1,000 was eventually provided, it’s not clear which employees received the $1,000.
Employees who had worked through COVID with a 20 per cent pay cut – which was eventually paid back – were now left without anything from a company to which they had given so much.
“I’m very proud of the work I did, and it was very emotional for a lot of people,” the employee said. “It was hard to understand why I made the cut and not someone else. Where do we go from here?”
Pajar bought Cougar for an undisclosed sum, with the official announcement of the purchase coming out in mid October, months after employees were made aware of the news.
