Bally Auluk – Usdaw national officer says: “With thousands of jobs on the line it is an absolute disgrace that Gordon Brothers has failed to engage with us to seek a secure future for the business. Sources within the company are telling me that a decision about the future of Poundland could be made as early as tomorrow and there are deep concerns that the business could go into administration, which would be a disaster for our members.
“We are aware that a management buy-out has been attempted and we are told that their offers are being turned down. We found it difficult to understand why Poundland was being described as struggling, after the company recently announced they had returned to like-for-like sales growth and staff were being thanked for their ‘amazing efforts’.
“Gordon Brothers’ need to be open about their intentions and demonstrate their commitment to the business, which our members are successfully helping to turn around. The very least they should do is now engage with Usdaw to ensure that our members have a say in the future of their jobs.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest with around 370,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also represents many workers in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion