140 job losses at Musgrave depot

MORE 140 workers at the Musgrave supermarket group’s Galway depot were yesterday told they would lose their jobs in June.

The Galway outlet will close in June as part of a restructuring of the company’s distribution network – 55 workers in Galway will be offered the chance to relocate to a Musgrave depot in Kildare.

The company yesterday confirmed that 70 full-time and up to 18 part-time jobs at the Galway depot will be lost with the closure of the depot on the Tuam Road, on the east of Galway city.

The cash and carry operation, which is also based at the Tuam Road site, is not affected by yesterday’s announcement.

Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland (MRPI) said the number of nationwide distribution depots will now be cut from five to four following an extensive review aimed at saving money.

SIPTU sectoral organiser Michael Kilcoyne said the bombshell made for a sad day for Galway and particularly for the workers at the MRPI depot.

“The very regrettable job losses up to now were almost all with the multi-nationals, but now the solid core of Irish company employment is being affected.

“Anyone who has worked with Musgraves will tell you it was like working for a family, all of which makes it even more difficult for the workers involved.

“We will be meeting with the company over the next few days to discuss the issues surrounding re-location and redundancy packages. But Galway can ill afford the loss of these jobs,” Mr Kilcoyne said.

The company said that MRPI and its retail partners, SuperValu and Centra were operating in an extremely difficult market, which had contracted by 7% last year.

It said that competition was intense due to continued consumer demand for lower prices and competition from cross-border shopping.

It said that it implemented €235 million in price reductions last year in a bid to combat a wave of price cuts by the major supermarket multiples.

The total MRP workforce in Ireland will be at 1,550 following the Galway closure, with workers based in Cork, Dublin and Kildare.

More than 30,000 people are employed across the SuperValu and Centra network of independently owned symbol stores throughout the country.