U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin met with former Shopko employees who said they have received little to no severance pay after working for the company for decades.

As we’ve reported, Shopko filed for bankruptcy in January closing all of its stores and laying off 3,000 employees in Wisconsin.

Employees were promised back pay if they stayed with the company until the end.

“I am tired and on behalf of these workers and frustrated that instance after instance across the United States we see predatory private investment firms take these sort of actions,” US Senator Tammy Baldwin said.

Baldwin said Sun Capital, a private equity firm, took Shopko and it’s employees for granted.

“Sun Capital using pretty much a predatory playbook, took actions like selling all the land and buildings that Shopko owned and instead of investing that back into growing Shopko and the Shopko family they kept it,” Senator Baldwin said.

Baldwin believes that’s what led Shopko to closing down all of it’s stores and laying off thousands of employees.

“We just helped each other stay focused until the end,” Former Shopko employee Sue Reich said.

Senator Baldwin is making it her duty to make sure former employees’ loyal work doesn’t go unnoticed.

“I am continuing to work with the Shopko workers to see if we can convince Sun Capital to stand by the commitment for severance pay,” said Senator Baldwin.

Baldwin wrote a letter to Sun Capital and said she is also creating legislation to make sure no one becomes a victim to this again.