Disappointing Job Loses in Cork - 216 at An Post & Argos also closes

An Post Job Loses

The Cork Mail Centre in Little Island is to close with the loss of 216 jobs, affecting 240 people. An Post officials travelled to Little Island last night to inform employees that the closure of the sorting centre will occur on a phased basis between September 2019 and March 2020.

An Post said the closure will result in annual savings of €11 million.

In a statement, An Post said staff will be offered:

• Exit packages of six weeks per year of service, up to a maximum of two years’ pay.
• Redeployment opportunities with An Post’s networks in the Cork area.
• Further education/re-skilling grants of up to €3,000 per person.
• Help to secure jobs with new employers; a Jobs Fair and outplacement support.

Speculation around the future of the centre, one of four nationwide, has been rife for some time.

The possibility of job losses was raised in the Dáil last November. Labour Party TD Seán Sherlock told the Dáil that he had been informed that the Little Island centre had been earmarked for closure.

He warned that this would “have a devastating effect on postal services in the southern region”.

He said such a move would be “unconscionable”. Last night, An Post said it was engaged with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) “to ensure the best possible outcome for all the CMC staff”.

It said the closure of a mail centre was considered by the Labour Court in its recommendation of September 2017. However, the remaining three centres — Portlaoise, Athlone and Dublin — are unaffected.An Post said the Cork plant was “operating at below 25% capacity as mail volumes decline at around 7% per annum due to customers moving from the old world of letters to the new world of parcels and e-commerce”.

The company said the €11m annual savings that will result from the plant closure “will enable An Post to invest more rapidly in its parcels infrastructure nationally, locally, and in the automation of parcel sorting”.

It said parcel volumes have grown by 60% since An Post actively re-entered the parcels market in 2017. The statement said the company intends to invest €15m in parcels infrastructure across Cork City and the wider region over the next three years.

Cork’s GPO on Oliver Plunkett St is due to undergo a major refurbishment and over 1000 parcel lockers will be installed across and city an county to make collection more convenient for customers. Of the 240 people working at the centre, two-thirds are employed on part-time basis.

Employees were told the news at around 11pm last night when most of the staff were in attendance as mail is sorted overnight.

Garrett Bridgeman, managing director of An Post Mails and Parcels, said it was “a very tough day for the staff at Cork Mail Centre who have delivered a consistently high level of performance over the years”.

“The closure is simply due to the global trend of mail volume decline which has led to significant over-capacity in the mails system.

“Our priority is to look after our employees who have given great service to An Post by providing alternative employment options, good redundancy terms, further education grants and active access to other employers,” he said.

An Post CEO David McRedmond, said An Post was responsible for its own finances and had worked hard to return to profit and growth.

“The company’s task now is to develop long-term sustainability. Closing the Cork letters’ facility is a tough but necessary step as we invest in the new world of parcels for our customers.

“I want to be sure of two things: first, sustainability is about decent work and we will look after our employees as well as possible; and second, I want Cork to be the first city in Ireland to benefit from the new parcels infrastructure for customers.”

Argos Job Loses expected - Cork

Argos says that it is working to minimise the job losses associated with the closure of its store in Cork city centre.

The UK retailer confirmed that its premises in the Queens Old Castle on Cork's Grand Parade will shut in November, just before the Christmas shopping season. It has traded in the building for more than 20 years.

A spokesperson for the company, which is owned by Sainsbury's in the UK, declined to confirm the number of people working in the store but said that it will offer staff the chance to be redeployed to their nearby branches in Blackpool and Mahon.

The spokesperson did not elaborate on the reasons for the closure but said that Argos "regularly review our estate".

"Our Cork Queens Arcade store will be closing in November. We will offer colleagues the opportunity to redeploy to their nearest store where possible," a spokesperson for the company said.

Argos was bought by Sainsbury's in a deal worth €1.4 billion in 2016.

It was reported in January of this year that poor sales at Argos had dragged down its parent company's trading in 2018.

Argos's struggles reflected those of other high street stores in the UK, where Debenhams, Mothercare and Marks & Spencers are also reporting difficulties.

Lawrence Owens, CEO of the Cork Business Association, described the news as "very disappointing" for retail in Cork city.

"Argos has a long tradition of trading in Cork - they have been at the Queens Old Castle for 20 years," he said.

"The most worrying element of this, of course, is for the employees whose jobs are affected.

Hopefully, any losses can be kept to a minimum and there can be some element of redeployment to other stores. Even one loss is too many."

Mr Owens said that the departure of Argos from the site could be "a catalyst" for activity in that part of the city.

"It could regenerate the entire area," he said.

"You already have long-standing businesses like Finn's Corner and O'Leary's Centra, which are huge successes, there, and then Cornmarket Street is just around the corner and has a really strong hospitality offering.

The historic Queens Old Castle survived the Black and Tans’ burning of Cork in 1920 and was once a Penneys. It was converted to a shopping centre in the late 1970s, with 37 different shops and restaurants occupying space in the building.

It ran into economic difficulties in the 1980s and closed its doors.

Clarendon Properties bought the site 1996. It was remodelled and reopened on December 4, 1997, by footballer Roy Keane, with two tenants: Argos and Virgin Megastore.

Source; Irish Examiner