Being made redundent 24th Dec.

haymaker

Hi,

I am a delivery driver at a supermarket and my company has closed our department due to the success of home delivery and given our delivery area to a dedicated warehouse 25 miles away.

I had a meeting today and this started my 30 day consultation. They have offered a few part time jobs in store for people to consider but as there are over 40 of us and only 10 jobs its not looking good. They have also said that external vacancies will be looked into and jobs in the warehouse are unknown. Can they start the consultation without giving us all of the options open to us?

I have also seen today a delivery van advertising vacancies in the warehouse that is taking over our routes and a quick call to them has confirmed that they are looking for full and part time drivers. When I asked in my meeting however, I was told that they still did not know if vacancies existed in the warehouse.

I also found out today that 2 people that "used to" work on our department but had been helping out elsewhere had already been offered perminent places in this other department, yet they have also been offered redundency if they do not wish to take this position. I am not sure how this can be as the company assured us that no positions will be offered before everyone has a chance to say if they are interested. Only then will each position be offered based on the merrits of all interested staff members. If they have left the department how can the company offer them redundancy? If they are still on the department, should the jobs they have been offered be open to everyone as the company stated to me.

Sorry for the long post, my head is spinning with the thought of having no job after the christmas weekend.

*Paris*

I just avoided redundancy in April, and my bf is currently being made redundant, so I know how you feel with the head spinning

Apply for any internal vacancies & keep your fingers crossed, if you aren't successful at getting a new job internally don't be disheartened & just look externally - this could be a whole new fresh start

Have you asked/been told what redundancy payment you will receive yet?

In my opinion, I would say if you are only going to get statutory redundancy pay and you have only been there a year or two, I would just apply for a job with the other company that has vacancies. If you were going to get a big redundancy payment, it's probably worth waiting for, rather than leaving.

good luck

haymaker

Thanks for the words of encouragment. The thing that gets me so much is that its the same company that has the vacancies in the warehouse.

Management have said that they dont know if there are positions to move
us to in the warehouse but I have found out myself with a 2 minute call that they have. To be hinest, it feels like they just want to get rid of us to save some money. If we are transfered, we have protected pay, if we leave then re-aply, we have to take the same job at a lower wage.

All I can say about this company is that whatever they are doing, "VERY LITTLE HELPS"

carpedieme

hi haymaker, my husband was made redundant in april and so far not a whisper of a job ( the west midlands has been very badly hit ) despite applying for hundreds. The main thing is staying positive apply for everything and something will come up, good luck to you