Supermarket staff sacked by email

CLOSING down . . . the Haldanes store in Royton

SUPERMARKET employees face their final day of work today after being made redundant by email.

Haldanes store in Royton is closing amid a legal row between its present owner and the Co-op which sold it.

A member of staff at Haldanes, which employs approximately 20 people, said they were given only six days’ redundancy notice, adding: “We are all off to the job centre on Wednesday.”

The female employee, who wanted to remain anonymous, said staff were told by bosses through email that the jobs were being terminated.

She said: “We knew something was wrong, but we were not expecting this.

“They did not even send a personal letter — I found out by email last Wednesday. They did not even give us the chance to look for employment elsewhere.”

In January last year, Haldanes chairman Arthur Harris told the Chronicle that all jobs were guaranteed when the company bought the Market Square supermarket from the Co-operative Group.

Now the company has gone into administration, putting around 500 jobs at risk at 26 stores nationwide.

A bitter legal row has begun with, Haldanes opening proceedings in the High Court against the Co-op.

The chairman released the following statement: “The directors and I are devastated at having to take this step and our thoughts are with our employees who find themselves facing an uncertain future; we would like to publicly thank them for their efforts and loyalty during their time with Haldanes. We have made countless attempts to negotiate with the Co-operative Group Limited over the last nine months, all to no avail.”

The Co-op said it regretted Haldanes decision to seek an administration order and would vigorously contest any legal action.

Shelves were left half-empty yesterday at the Royton store with all the stock available at slashed prices.

It is believed the employees were asked to work until today after hearing the news last week, or risk losing redundancy pay.