Last day for staff at Pumpkin Patch
Close to 40 staff at Pumpkin Patch’s distribution centre worked their last day at the company yesterday and they won’t be getting redundancy.
According to union representatives, it’s a sad day for the workers, many of whom have served between 10 and 20 years with the childwear company.
“One member has been there almost from day one, serving 26 years,” said First Union general secretary Robert Reid. “But the staff’s sadness is mixed with anger.”
“A lot of the staff there were shareholders,” said union delegate Rob Dempsey. “So they’ve lost their jobs and their money.”
Due to the way the company is structured, staff will be leaving without any of their redundancy entitlements.
“We’re still exploring all avenues to try and obtain redundancy entitlements for our members.
It’s a complex situation because the company that has employed the distribution centre and head office staff, Pumpkin Patch Ltd, doesn’t own any stock,” Read said.
“Instead the stock-owning company, Pumpkin Patch Originals Ltd, only employed the retail staff who do not have redundancy agreements. To add to the complexity Pumpkin Patch is in both receivership and administration.”
Workers in Australia, meanwhile, will receive full entitlements due to a federal government scheme which assists workers.