Hopes fade as Roches redundancies finalised

ROCHES Stores has contacted some of the 172 staff it is making redundant in Cork to tell them their entitlements have been processed.

The decision would firmly suggest that negotiations, to try to salvage the jobs, have almost certainly failed.

According to their union, Mandate, the first workers were contacted on Wednesday evening and told that after up to almost 30 years of service to Roches at the Wilton Shopping Centre, it had their redundancy cheque available.

The workers are losing their jobs because Marks and Spencer and the owner of the centre, Joe O’Donovan, cannot agree a square footage price which would allow the British retailer to take over the store and its staff from Roches.

During the last two weeks, both sides moved little from their positions. M&S wanted the store for the same lease price as being paid by Roches. The owner wanted significantly more and was not prepared to hand over the entire 45,000 square foot.

In the Dáil, Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin, who had acted as mediator between the two sides, told TDs that he was more pessimistic than he had been all week that the jobs could be saved. However, he appealed to the sides in the dispute to make one further effort to resolve their differences.

“Fundamentally, this issue revolves around the terms of a lease and that is why 172 workers are losing their jobs,” he said. “That is not acceptable and I am deeply unhappy about it. In fundamental terms, this matter comes down to a dispute regarding the amount of rent and square footage involved.

“In other areas throughout the country, the transfer of employees to other companies was affected in a way that did not give rise to angst and disagreement.”

Hamilton Osborne King chairman, Aidan O’Hogan, who has been negotiating on behalf of M&S, said the position adopted by the owner of the centre, Joe O’Donovan, was the same as it had been throughout.

“He wanted to fix the price now for the rent review down the line,” he said. “Unless Mr O’Donovan changes his mind, there is no scope for a deal.”

Mandate’s Brian Moloney said the union had been told M&S had increased its offer per square foot significantly but that had not been accepted by Mr O’Donovan.

“It is inconceivable that this has been allowed to happen and that 172 jobs have been lost,” said Mr Moloney.