Roches Stores staff agree to Debenhams sale
Staff at the retail chain Roches Stores today reached agreement with the company over the sale of the operation to UK retailers Debenhams.
Under the guidance of the Labour Relations Commission, Mandate, which represents 2,000 of its staff, Roches Stores confirmed it had reached an agreement which included a loyalty payment to staff and a payment of €14.8m into the pension fund to make up a shortfall.
It also agreed issues over the protection of staff terms and conditions upon the sale of the company.
Debenhams will pay €29m for the leasehold of the stores in the Republic. The deal includes the running of premises in Blanchardstown, Blackrock, Tallaght and Henry Street, Dublin, and Cork, Limerick, Tralee, Galway and Waterford.
The move will result in the loss of 91 jobs from the company’s support office in Sandyford and its home and gift store in Nutgrove, Dublin. Both premises are closing.
Its outlet in the Wilton Shopping Centre, Cork, will be taken over by Marks & Spencer.
Roches Stores, which employed 2,000 people at the 11 stores, has said the remaining staff will transfer to Debenhams and Marks & Spencer.
Mandate’s national official, Linda Tanham, said: “This agreement secures and protects the terms of conditions of employment enjoyed by Roches Stores staff transferring their employment to the new owners.
“The deal also ensures that the contribution of workers to the success of the company is recognised by way of a loyalty payment scheme up to a maximum payment of €6,000.”
Ms Tanham welcomed the company’s agreement to pay €14.8m into the pension fund to make up the current shortfall.
The union has also agreed redundancy terms for staff in Nutgrove and for those working in the Group Support Office.
The staff will receive six weeks’ pay per year of service for the first eight years of service and five weeks’ pay per year of service for the remainder, inclusive of statutory redundancy.
She said: “We are satisfied that the concerns of staff have been fully addressed in this agreement. The sale of the company had thrown up a new set of circumstances for our members, many of whom have given years of dedicated service.”
Meanwhile, SIPTU members have voted in favour of accepting a Labour Court Recommendation over the sale of the Great Southern Hotel group.
SIPTU’s national industrial secretary, Gerry McCormack, said: “The main features of the agreement are that it is a condition of the sale that the new owners would recognise the union’s right to negotiate on behalf of all future workers and that the new owner would establish a defined contribution pension scheme for all former employees at the same contribution rate as currently exists.
“The agreement also covers a voluntary severance package, payments on transfer to new owner and conditions of employment on transfer to new owner.”
The agreement covers around 950 employees working with the group.
“Nevertheless we are still of the view that the Great Southern Hotel Group should have remained in state ownership,” Mr McCormack said.
