City Link Staff Facing New Year Axe

Staff returning to City Link depots for the first time since news of the company's collapse broke on Christmas Day have been told that most of them will lose their jobs on New Year's Eve. Administrator Ernst & Young (EY) called meetings today at which it said that as the company was not able to continue trading substantial redundancies'' among the 2,727-strong workforce would take effect from Wednesday. Some workers will be kept on to help return the estimated 40,000 parcels remaining in City Link's depots to customers and intended recipients. Protests by staff and RMT union members outside a number of City Link depots, including one at Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, were held early today. The RMT union has accused City Link's bosses of ahorrific catalogue of mismanagement'', particularly as many workers found out on Christmas Day that they were set to lose their jobs. RMT general secretary Mick Cash has written to business secretary Vince Cable and EY demanding a summit between the administrators, the union and the Government to explore options to save the company. Mr Cash said: Staff were hauled into pre-dawn meetings with the administrators, with the vast majority told their jobs had been destroyed on the spot.'' He went on:The staff are angry and disgusted and up for a fight and RMT remains determined to do all in our power in the battle for justice for the City Link workforce.'' However, the founder of City Link's parent company has denied the firm's collapse was mishandled. Jon Moulton said the directors of Better Capital, which owned the parcel delivery firm, were very sorry'' about its collapse and thehorrible effects'' for its workforce. The veteran venture capitalist claimed that taxpayers would not foot much of a bill'' for redundancy payments for the firm's staff as City Link haspaid a fortune'' in taxes since Better Capital took it over in April 2013. However, the private equity firm has admitted that it still stands to recoup as much as £20 million from the company as its original investment in the business was structured as a secured loan. Mr Moulton said it had proved impossible to save City Link and stressed that the company's directors would have been guilty of a criminal offence had they not filed for insolvency when it became clear a couple of days before Christmas'' that the firm would collapse.