Woolworths Pay Out Signals End of One Era and Dawn of Another, say Guardian Jobs

LONDON, January 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

For ex-Woolworth's employees, the saga surrounding its collapse has met a happier ending after they were awarded significant compensation for their 2008 redundancies. Thanks to a solid trade union, a case was taken to tribunal and on 20^th January, more than 24,000 workers were rewarded 60 days pay.

Guardian jobs believe this is a good example of how effective unions can be in the interest of jobs and redundancies.

According to shopworkers' Union, Udsaw, ex-Woolworth's employees were awarded a total of up to £67.8 m in compensation. With the MoD in the process of a second round in a redundancy programme launched last spring, and still set to make cuts to up to 60,000 military and civilian posts in the next eight years, the importance of a union seems great.  

Across the UK's high streets, over 100 Woolworth shops still remain empty three years after their initial collapse.  They are relics of the High Street's economic downfall; evidence of a period in history that is still in recovery.

There have been moves to use up the space. Some discounters (29%) and supermarkets (17%) have inhabited some of the space and there has been a rise in the number of empty shops now demolished. In the last year the figure has increased from 1.3% to 8.4%. Beyond the High Street's wasteland, however, is the human cost of all this. The consequential loss of jobs after such an anchor store collapsed; the astronomical redundancies of over 27, 000 employees. The compensation is a positive end, but where do employees go to next.

It is the belief of Guardian Jobs that there are rays of hope across many job sectors, as job seekers and graduates show adaptability in the face of adversity.  Employment's centre has not been able to hold and withstand the cuts, but the result of this is a more malleable market, up for grabs and full of new horizons for job seekers and graduates in the UK.

Entrepreneurial and digital experience goes a long way and young graduates are more digitally educated, efficient and au fait with technology than any other generation.  In addition, Guardian Jobs offer a range of TEFL, apprenticeship, internship and graduate job opportunities and have just loaded a Jobs app on to their Guardian Fundraiser and Teacher Professional Network Facebook pages.

Shoppers spent nearly £8bn online in December, up 16.5% on the same time last year, as consumers headed to the internet to shop. Life on the High Street has changed. The cuts have closed down businesses, but out of these ashes, has been a dynamic reshuffling of jobs, training and prospects, evolving continuously to counter the cuts and seek out new ventures and opportunity.

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