Victory for HMV Limerick staff as wages paid in full
Receivership: HMV's Irish stores have closed down
FORMER music store staff in the city who staged a sit-in over unpaid wages have finally received their money.
Some 28 staff occupied HMV’s two stores in Cruises Street and the Crescent Shopping centre until last weekend, in protest at unpaid wages.
This came after the receiver appointed to the firm in Ireland acted to close down the stores here - despite the fact the British arm of the chain is still operating.
The sit-in only ended after the staff received a commitment from receivers Deloitte Ireland that pay would go in on Friday.
And this has now happened.
Chris Keena, former manager of the store in the Crescent Shopping Centre, said he was delighted for the staff.
“They worked so hard over Christmas, which is the busiest time of the year for HMV, and they also worked hard during January,” he said.
He described staff in Limerick as being “top class”.
“On a personal level, I found them great to work with. We were lucky, as we were able to work with highly skilled, highly qualified, professional people,” he said.
Although 28 people are now out of work following HMV’s closure, Chris says they are highly employable in other sectors.
“When the collapse of the Celtic Tiger kicked in, it resulted in a lot of people who were highly qualified having nowhere to go, so they ended up in retail. As a result of this, both stores were run very efficiently, they both made money, and at the moment, there are 28 employees laid off, but are highly employable,” he said.
It has been reported that debt salvage company Hilco have bought the debts of HMV.
Chris said staff are being kept in the loop on whether this might see the Limerick store reopen.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Weather for Limerick
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 7 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 9 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
