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Debenhams staff in the dark on job cuts |
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Written by David Raleigh
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 |
DEBENHAMS staff in Limerick remain in the dark as to the implications of redundancies being sought across the chain’s 11 stores in the Republic of Ireland.
Some time has elapsed since reports began circulating about possible job cuts at the O’Connell Street branch, but employees are still uncertain as to whether there will be cuts to the workforce based at the premises on the site of the former Roches Stores outlet.
Union representatives are hopeful of being able to clarify the situation for employees by the end of the week. The trade union Mandate, which has confirmed that there will job losses across the Debenham’s business in the Republic of Ireland, have a meeting scheduled with Debenham’s management on the issue this week. Up to 170 redundancies may be sought across its 11 stores, but the extent of the job losses is not known.
Linda Tanham, Assistant General Secretary for Mandate said: “We heard that there will be job losses in Debenham’s, one of Ireland’s largest fashion retailers, in the imminent future. Discussions are only commencing at the moment and not a lot of detail is known but we hope to be able to clarify the situation for our members after our meeting with management.”
Ms Tanham added: “More and more jobs are being lost in the retail sector as a direct result of the downturn in the economy and in particular, customers going over the border to do their shopping. We have no doubt that this has been a major contributor to the loss of jobs in the Debenhams situation and it is quite frustrating to see Irish workers losing jobs at a time when are already struggling to make ends meet.”
The Mandate spokeswoman also explained: “Low paid workers in the retail sector are having difficulties paying their bills and their mortgages so job losses are the last thing they, or indeed, the economy needs right now.”
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