Kwik Save on brink of administration
Workers at troubled British supermarket chain Kwik Save are to be asked to work unpaid for another week or the company will go into administration, it was revealed today.
The development followed a court hearing in Manchester, at which the firm asked for another seven days to put together a refinancing package.
The shopworkers' union Usdaw said workers who have not been paid for a week will now be asked to carry on working without money for another week.
If they do not agree, then Kwik Save will be placed into administration tomorrow.
Usdaw national officer Joanne McGuinness said: "We had hoped that our members would finally have an end to weeks of uncertainty today, but the decision to ask them whether they would work unpaid for another week puts them in a very difficult situation.
"If they agree then they face another week of mounting debts but if they don't then the company goes under and they then have to wait to get money from the DTI.
"Usdaw members are being asked by their store managers if they are willing to work for another week unpaid and our members will have to make their own minds up whether their own circumstances means they can go another week without wages.
"We have told Kwik Save that if staff agree to do work unpaid then they should be allowed to apply to the company for short-term loans so they can at least put food on the table for their families. We hope the court will finally make a decision tomorrow so our members can finally have weeks of uncertainty lifted from their shoulders."
Usdaw said it was an "unprecedented" situation which had caused workers "incredible financial hardship".
The union urged the company to continue offering hardship loans to staff at its 145 stores as well as those made redundant following the closure of 81 supermarkets.
