Sears Canada Inc. and its American counterpart are facing a class-action lawsuit by owners of its Hometown franchises, who allege the retailer has deprived them of the opportunity to make a reasonable profit. The lawsuit was filed by the owner of a Sears Hometown store in Woodstock, Ont., on behalf of about 260 franchise operators across Canada. It claims Hometown store dealers have seen their sales and profits erode over the past three years. The lawsuit alleges that Sears lowered dealers' commissions, reduced advertising for local stores and bypassed the franchises by selling directly to customers who are located within their markets. The dealers also claim that Sears is setting their compensation and work conditions, without abiding by labour laws or franchise protection laws. Class representative and owner of the Sears Hometown store in Woodstock, Linda Kay.. "We feel that we have really nothing more to lose. We care very deeply for all of the store owners across the Country who, in the past month and year have had to lock their doors and walk away from their life savings and their investment. It's sad and heartbreaking and we feel for them and that's why we stepped up to the plate." "We see discrepancies, changes that we have not negotiated with them, reductions in commissions, things like that. A number of stores have closed their doors and we felt in the spring of this year that enough is enough and we tried to talk to Sears and that has not been getting us anywhere." "We've seen our profits and commissions erode in a time when the marketplace already is very poor and Sears has cut back our commissions in spite of that and they continue to make a profit. We have been trying to talk to them for years now and let them know what it is that we could use from them in terms of support and we have just not been getting their ear on that." The allegations have not been proven in court.
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