Marks & Spencer is the latest major retailer to announce job losses in the wake of falling sales over the Coronavirus lockdown. Nearly 1,000 jobs are due to go, mostly in store management and head office.
The job cuts are not new as such. They had already been mapped out in a restructure which the company was going through as it tried to cope with falling sales in High Street stores. Now, however, the restructuring has been brought forward and the company hopes that jobs which were to be shed over a three year period can be cut in just one year. The company is in the process of inviting employees to apply for voluntary redundancy, but if the necessary numbers are not achieved on a voluntary basis it is likely to impose compulsory redundancies.
The announcement from Marks & Spencer comes just days after High Street retailers John Lewis, Boots and Debenhams also announced redundancies. Those announcements came after a series of job cuts in hospitality business and airlines.
As usual with capitalist economies, it’s all a chain reaction. Although people are getting back to work, they do not feel their jobs are secure. Purchases which they might have made in recent months were it not for the lockdown are being further delayed – reducing the income of High Street stores and putting more jobs at risk, which increases uncertainty and reduces sales, etc.
Although many High Street stores have re-opened now, customers are not necessarily returning to them, with many choosing to shop online. The Government has not woken up to the crisis and is indulging in a severe bout of wishful thinking – trying to tempt customers back to town centres with the promise of a half-price burger. Unless and until it wakes up, smells the takeaway double mocha latte with syrup and starts a serious redistribution of wealth, further jobs cuts are on the horizon.
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