If the sales of Seras goes through as most articles suggest what happens to the heath plans that employees currently have? Can a union shop close down fire all employees and re open under the new name legally? So many uncertainties....
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Yes, SHC will still exist, but not in it’s current capacity. All that will remain is a very small (think 10-15) person crew to deal with the bankruptcy estate. Eddie has bought essentially all the operating assets of SHC from SHC and placed them under Transform Holdco. SHC will no longer exist in a capacity where they have the capability or need to employ the workers in question. As for him tearing up the CBAs, can’t happen without the consent of the union, otherwise it’s an illegal unfair labor practice. As an example, Innovel is probably the only area of the company that does have union CBAs in place. Assuming they are drafted correctly, they are binding on Innovel itself, not SHC or whoever the owner of Innovel happens to be. The owning holding company is new, but Innovel is still Innovel. Management is the same, the actual paperwork incorporating it is still in effect, etc. If Eddie does decide to get rid of the unions he will have to find another way, probably simply electing to sell off Innovel or otherwise dispose of it.
Correct on the BK allowing shedding of some liabilities. In this case SHC is shedding the liabilities, and Transform Holdco is assuming them. If SHC had wanted to reject the CBA 3 months ago they could have, but probably didn’t because they couldn’t replace the employees who would have walked off had they done so. Transform will probably just wait out the current CBA and then decline the negotiate or recognize a new one.
Is there a single benefit to Eddie keeping the agreements with unions? Everyone will be offered new jobs at Transform. Most likely SHC will still exist. The whole point of a bankruptcy is getting rid of low priority encumbrances, and the "new" owner, Eddie, will surely tear up the union agreements.
Health plans will probably be continued for only the few that will retain full time status as is required by law. An option to continue to pay full price for it will probably be offered for a set period of time for those that get bumped to PT and loose benefits.
Certainly possible for a union shop to shut down and fire everyone, then reopen under a different name. It depends on who the CBA is with. If a union rep was dumb enough to have the CBA be with SHC vice the relevant subsidiary actually employing those in question then the CBA is voided on it’s own terms when the sale completes and it becomes non-executable against SHC. However, I don’t think that SHC has all that many unionized employees left in the entirety of the company. They will probably remain unionized until either the current CBA expires or Eddie decides Sears is as stripped as it can be and he decides to end it.