Sad day for staff as Arnotts confirms 580 job cuts for move

ARNOTTS yesterday confirmed staff fears that it is to slash almost 580 jobs as part of “‘operational changes”’ in advance of moving to new premises.

The company has acquired the lease of the Debenhams store in the Jervis Centre and intends to have it refurbished and move its current Henry Street operation there in the summer.

In addition, the current Boyers store on North Earl Street will be converted to Arnotts furniture and home store, which will open in August 2008.

Meanwhile, the construction phase of the Northern Quarter development is expected to commence later this year and finish in early 2011.

“This reorganisation will necessitate a reduction in staff numbers of 580 from the current employment level of approximately 950, during the construction phase of the Northern Quarter,” a company spokesman said last night.

“It is hoped that the majority of staff reductions will take place on a voluntary basis. Following completion of the new Arnotts store, staffing levels will increase to 1,200. The building phase of the Northern Quarter will itself create over 1,000 construction jobs, and overall, the development will create total employment numbers of approximately 5,000 on completion.”

Arnotts claimed it explored all its options and concluded it was not feasible to keep the Henry Street store open during construction.

It told staff about the job losses yesterday.

“The decision to close Arnotts on Henry Street during the Northern Quarter build, and reduce staffing levels accordingly, is one that has not been taken lightly, but with regret, both in relation to staff and customers,” said Arnotts chairman Richard Nesbitt.

Linda Tanham, assistant general secretary of Mandate, which represent workers at Arnotts, said: “It’s a sad day for a lot of Arnotts’ and Boyers’ loyal staff who’ve given years of loyal service to the company and its customers.

“The development of the Northern Quarter is coming at a huge cost to these workers and their families.”

She said a series of meetings was being organised between Mandate and management to discuss redundancy terms. “Ideally we would like all of the redundancies to be voluntary, but unfortunately we expect most redundancies will be of a compulsory nature,” she said.

Fine Gael enterprise spokesman, Leo Varadkar, said: “Since the bulk of the lay-offs have been triggered by the decision to move the Arnotts store, these staff must be given first option when the company starts hiring again. Furthermore, the company should give a guarantee that it will offer the same pay and conditions when re-hiring staff.”