"The boycott was fueled when a community newspaper no longer in business reported that Jimmy fired all of the former Front Street Market employees in a move to switch to a nonunion workforce and was hiring new employees at just $10 per hour.

Jimmy explained to the Reporter that he never fired anyone, as it was impossible to fire people who weren’t already his employees. He stated that he offered all of the former Front Street Market employees $15 per hour to come work for him, but that 10 had refused."

Sorry, but that's bogus. You buy an existing business, you don't start from scratch; you're buying the "brand", the name, the goodwill of existing customers, etc, as well as the stock, the equipment, etc.

And yes, you're also taking on the employees. They were employees of the business; while the owner of the business changed, the business itself (and the employees) didn't. Coming in and breaking the union and offering less money or else they're out of a job is definitely firing them.