Fifteen months ago, I was one of hundreds of young workers taken on by the once-thriving HMV at Christmas time. On Christmas eve, just after it first emerged that their business model was in deep water, most of us were told our contracts would be amended to an earlier finishing date.
I was given a week’s notice, which is more than can be said for some of my colleagues. A young French woman was told by our sneering line manager that she could have an “extended holiday”, as he informed her that she needn’t bother coming to work on Boxing Day or any day after.
Many of those who faced the brunt of the swift hand of management were foreign nationals or from ethnic minorities. But there were two universal traits among temporary workers and many of the permanent staff too: all young, and we had all been presented with an employment contract that was the stuff of nightmares for any trade union member.
To lose one household name during a period of supposed economic recovery is unfortunate, but to lose three is careless. With the collapse of Jessops, HMV, and Blockbuster approximately 10,000 people face a very uncertain future. So what’s going on?
Rarely can a Budget have disintegrated so quickly. Dixons have just announced sales falling by 11% over the last 11 weeks, and are now cutting capital expenditure by 25%. Oddbins goes bankrupt. The former Asda boss has predicted a “long-term trend of trading down”. HMV has just issued its thrid profits warning in 3 months: annual profits are now expected to be less than half of what the City was expecting only 6 months ago. M&S have announced its clothing and homeware sales have declined 6% in the fist 3 months of this year. Thomas Cook, H Samuel, Ernest Jones, Argos, Comet, Mothercare all report sales and profits tumbling. This collapse of consumer confidence is everywhere, as all the economic reports are echoing. 