The TUC has urged Marks and Spencer
to think again about closing its French stores.
Speaking today before a rally against
the proposals in central London, John Monks, general secretary of the TUC,
said, “They are not losing money, they are profitable. The closure had more to
do with impressing City sentiment than it did with the real business interests
of Marks and Spencer.”
He continued, “They thought they
could export the UK’s easy hire and fire rules to the rest of Europe. It is not
just M&S employees who have found that they have been sacked without real
notice. Behaviour that is both illegal and unacceptable in France is all too
common here as workers in Corus, Vauxhall and many others have found.”
He reiterated the TUC’s call to
implement the European Directive on Information and Consultation in theUK.
Monks said, “This would require all
companies employing more than fifty people to talk and consult on a continuing
basis, not just when it is too late.”
The rally starts at midday in Allsop
Place, near Baker Street and will pass M&S’s headquarters and flagship
Oxford Street store before finishing in Hyde Park.
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