Soho workers feel the pain
WORKERS in stores that are trying to function in Soho Mall are not predicting a “Happy New Year” for 2017.
They held a peaceful demonstration on Friday August 12 to express their concerns about their future in the establishment once owned by the Waked family.
The mall, along with the rest of the group’s business operations is on the U.S. Treasury’s Clinton list because of alleged links to large scale money laundering.
Like the worker’s and suppliers hit by the Donald Trump bankruptcies, those at the bottom end of the scale suffer the most pain.
Inclusion on the list severely restricts the commercial viability of the mall because it prohibits financial transactions with any US entity, including customers and suppliers.
On Friday employees carrying white balloons gathered in front of the mall, on Calle 50.
In July, the Waked family, placed the mall in a trust controlled by creditors. The family, apparently thought that would be enough to qualify for an operating license. However, the US has so far failed to issue that license.
The mall has a temporary license that is good through January 2017. The hope of a brighter year ahead rest on the possibility of the creditors selling the enterprise to a well-heeled entrepreneur. Meanwhile many of the workers are knocking on doors elsewhere.
