Pay freeze and job cuts at Musgrave

MUSGRAVE is cutting staff and imposing a pay freeze to cope with tough trading conditions.

The Cork headquartered retail and food service group informed staff yesterday that it is looking for 20 forced redundancies, asking some employees to take a pay freeze and will not be renewing contracts for all temporary workers.

The company plans to meet with staff again in four to six weeks to give a further update on any more plans they intend to implement in order to cope with the downturn.

The company said it is not “ruling anything in or out” when it comes to this meeting.

Musgrave spokeswoman Edel Clancy said: “Things are changing so rapidly that it’s hard to predict what will happen. We have a plan in place and we believe we will emerge strong from this.

“We are not announcing anything else right now and where the market is going is anybody’s guess. We’ll be keeping a close eye on things.”

Ms Clancy said trading conditions are “very tough” adding that the business is “doing ok” at the moment.

Yesterday’s meeting took place as part of a routine update to staff on the firm’s performance every eight weeks via a video link from chief executive Chris Martin.

Staff at a “certain level” were told they will be asked to accept a pay freeze while the company will be obeying the terms of the national wage agreement for other staff. “The last thing we want to do is make people redundant,” said Ms Clancy.

The company has not yet finalised plans on what redundancy packages are being offered to staff.

Musgrave employs 2,800 staff in Ireland and would not say yesterday how many temporary workers would be let go.

The company is also investing in price cuts at its SuperValu outlets. It said the average prices of theSuperValu basket at €150 has come down by 7% over the last few months, with further cuts expected.

On the overall business,Musgrave said the market is “very tough” but it believes consumers are responding well to its push to offer greater value.

The company also understands that staff at retail outlets such as Centra and SuperValu across the country have been made redundant but it said it has no control over payrolls at these outlets.

“Like all small businesses they are also looking at ways to survive,” said Ms Clancy.

SIPTU, which represents 700 Musgrave workers is meeting with management next week following yesterday’s meeting.

SIPTU representative John Dunne said: “Our main agenda is to make sure that the National Wage Agreement is honoured.”