Eight hundred staff in Eason, the books-to-stationery retailer, have voted against pay cuts of between 4 per cent and 10 per cent. Staff voted against pay cuts by a ratio of three-to-one.

They had been asked to consider wage cuts following a proposal that came out of the Labour Relations Commission which is facilitating talks with the company. Eason management is hoping to reduce its overall costs by €2.5 million by various measures including pay reductions.

The proposed pay cuts would have seen workers who were paid by the hour see their pay cut by 4 per cent while staff paid every month would have their wages cut by between 4 per cent and 10 per cent. The matter is now expected to be referred for further discussions to the Labour Court.

A spokesman for Eason said “The company is reviewing this week’s decision.” He declined to comment further.

Profits attained

Eason made a profit of €2.6 million in the year to the end of January 2013 compared with a loss of €5.3 million in the previous 12 months after reducing its annual cost base by €6.1 million between 2011 and 2012. Management has previously told its trade union Siptu that it hopes to avoid store closures and redundancies by achieving savings.