Usdaw National Officer Mark Todd said: “Usdaw is deeply concerned at the devastating news that Palmer and Harvey has gone into administration and that a significant number of redundancies have already been announced. The Union is seeking an urgent meeting with the Administrators to clarify what is going on and the implications for Usdaw members. Today’s announcement is a massive shock to our members and is an extremely distressing situation for all concerned, especially in the run up to Christmas. We will of course be doing everything possible to protect our members interests going forward.”

Notes for editors:

Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 430,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 28% over the last decade. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the Union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.

For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion