Superquinn unions look for meeting
After weekend reports that the supermarket chain may be up for sale, the Superquinn Group of Trade Unions has requested a meeting with senior management to discuss the job security of their 2,500 members.
Mandate Trade Union, SIPTU and the Bakers’ Union said they have written to management seeking an urgent meeting on the future ownership of the company.
Media reports at the weekend suggested the company, which has 23 stores nationwide, was seeking a buyer.
The claims were denied by Superquinn despite Musgraves making a recent approach to take over the group.
According to the reports, however, Superquinn’s board is opposed to an immediate sell-off of the company.
Gerry Light, Mandate assistant general secretary, said the recent speculation had caused some unease among the company’s staff in relation to the future of their jobs.
He said they have asked for the meeting to get clarification about what “precisely is going on”.
On Sunday, a report in the Sunday Business Post suggested that the company’s backers had approached a number of rival retailers and finance houses to ask if they would be interested in taking over the chain.
Select Retail Holdings, a consortium including Simon Burke, Kieran Ryan, Jerry O’Reilly, David Courtney and Bernard Doyle and Terry Sweeney, controls Superquinn.
The consortium bought the company from its founder Feargal Quinn in 2005.