Supporters of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) in Leeds held a protest outside Debenhams in Leeds, alongside others organised in London, Plymouth and Southampton against the companies savage cuts to jobs and stores, as part of a day of action called by members of the retail workers union, Usdaw, in the NSSN.
Iain Dalton, Leeds Socialist Party and member of Usdaw
These cuts include closing their entire Irish retail store network (currently being fought by workers organised in Mandate, the Irish sister union of Usdaw), 20 stores that won’t be re-opening post-lockdown in the UK, and job cuts on top of this at their head office.
But the cutback that caused the most outrage amongst passers-by was the redundancy of all Restaurant workers in the chain, who’ve been told to claim redundancy money from the government, instead of keeping them on the ongoing furlough scheme – with the possibility of re-opening restaurants in some capacity later in the year.
Socialist Party members gave out copies of the Debenhams special of the Activist, which were well received by Debenhams workers and the public.
We called for the company to open their financial accounts to trade union inspection, and for the company to be brought into public ownership if necessary to save jobs.
