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BKLYN GOLD

Macy’s to Brooklyn workers: You’re safe for now

By Zeke Faux
for The Brooklyn Paper
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The Brooklyn Paper / Zeke Faux
Macy’s sales rep Tricia Chichester-Harris of East New York is pleased that no one will lose his job at the Macy’s on Fulton Mall.
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The Brooklyn Paper / Zeke Faux

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Macy’s will be laying off thousands of workers nationwide — but the several hundred employees at the chain’s Brooklyn flagship on the Fulton Mall are safe.

For now.

Mac Support Store

Managers at the historic Downtown outpost of the so-called “world’s largest department store” fanned out on Tuesday morning to tell employees that there won’t be layoffs here.

“They came out and told us that our jobs were safe,” said one worker, who declined to give her name. “It’s a blessing.”

Nationwide, the story is hardly as cheerful. On Monday, the chain announced that it would cut 7,000 jobs — roughly four percent of its workforce — in a sweeping reorganization. Macy’s didn’t warn workers before issuing the bulletin.

“I heard about Macy’s laying off people on the news, so when they called the meeting, I was nervous. I thought we’d be the first to go,” said salesperson Tricia Chichester-Harris of East New York. “I’m so relieved to know I still have a job.”

Rico Furniture

Workers were told that sales are relatively strong at the iconic location, which has housed department stores for more than a century.

Defunct retailer Abraham & Straus commissioned the building’s current Art Deco exterior in 1928.

Macy’s officials said that locations in Herald Square and on Staten Island are also safe from immediate cutbacks.

The debt-addled chain currently employs 180,000 nationwide.

©2009 The Brooklyn Paper

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