Maritz lays off hundreds in wake of coronavirus, but former employees say problems have been brewing
FENTON — Against a backdrop of bare, finished wood, a somber Steve Maritz had bad news to share with his thousands of employees.
“I thought I’d seen a lot in my years, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Maritz said in a video recorded in early April, as the scale and severity of the coronavirus crisis began coming into focus.
“Furloughs work like this: if you don’t have work, you’re going to get furloughed,” Maritz said in the five-minute video obtained by the Post-Dispatch. “For those continuing to work, we’re all going to get a 20% pay cut. I’m taking a 100% pay cut.”
“I know this is tough medicine and I really hate to do it,” he said, pausing with a sigh. “But I think it’s what we need to do, I believe it’s what we need to do to survive and get through to the other side, where opportunity awaits.”
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/maritz-lays-off-hundreds-in-wake-of-coronavirus-but-former-employees-say-problems-have-been/article_534820ac-ba94-5789-83c7-158cd58fe71c.html
