330 jobs at risk after Principles liquidation

HIGH-STREET retailer Principles and shoe store Shoe Studio Ireland have been put into liquidation with the potential total loss of more than 330 jobs.

The provisional liquidator, David Carson, was appointed to both companies in the High Court yesterday.

Afterwards Principles confirmed 216 staff were being made redundant.

The court was told both companies had been affected by difficulties of their parent company Mosaic and it was essential they be sold as a going concern as soon as possible.

In an affidavit, Mosaic finance director Richard Glanville said Principles Retail Ireland had traded profitably until the economic downturn and it was unclear if it was solvent.

The trade union Mandate, which represents the bulk of the staff at Principles, said workers were informed at 2pm yesterday that the Irish sections of the company had gone into liquidation.

Mandate assistant general secretary Linda Tanham said the way staff were told was “nothing short of disgraceful”.

Ms Tanham said staff members have no idea when they will be paid for the work they have been doing.

Principles has seven stores and 25 concessions in department stores across Ireland. Shoe Studio Ireland trades through 18 concessions in department stores and employs 121 staff.

Meanwhile, pay in the construction industry fell by as much as 5% in the year to December 2008 according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

Hours worked each week also dropped by two hours, or 4.7%, in the sector.

Construction Industry Federation director of communications Martin Whelan said the fall in weekly wages could be put down to two factors.

Firstly, he said, in the affluent periods, employers would have paid in excess of the registered employment agreement which governs wages in the sector. However, given the downturn in the industry, a number were now reducing wages back to the REA figure.

Secondly, he said, employers were reducing overtime hours and implementing shorter working weeks.

The Labour Court is considering an application by the CIF for a 10% reduction in wages due under the REA.

In a counter-application construction unions have sought a 6% increase in line with the latest national wage agreement. The Labour Court is due to issue its decision on the matter in the coming days.

According to the CSO figures, the average weekly earnings for clerical and operative workers in the construction industry decreased from e842.29 to e822.31 in the 12 months between December 2007 and December 2008, a fall of 2.4% even though there was an increase of 2.3% in the hourly rate paid to all grades — from e18.77 to e19.20.

The number of hours worked per week decreased by 4.7% from 44.9 hours to 42.8 hours.

Weekly earnings for adult unskilled workers fell by 5% from e838.96 to e796.63 in the period examined.

Skilled operatives saw their weekly earnings decrease by 3.1% from e942.51 to e913.07 over the same period.