ILT faces 'heart breaking' prospect of staff layoffs

Wednesday, 13 May 2020

Invercargill Licensing Trust chief executive Chris Ramsay.

The Invercargill Licensing Trust is facing the heart breaking prospect of staff redundancies in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, its chief executive says.

And in a further blow to the public-owned organisation and Southland community, it is placing community funding applications on hold until further notice.

The trust hires about 600 staff in 25 hospitality businesses in Invercargill and gives millions of dollars in profits back to the community each year.

Trust chief executive Chris Ramsay said the hospitality and tourism sectors were among the hardest hit by the Covid19 pandemic and it was having dire consequences for the organisation.

“To reach this point [of staff restructuring] is heart-breaking,'' Ramsay said.

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''Our team is a tight-knit one and the decision to consider restructuring has come with a lot of angst.”

Ramsay said consultation with staff would be initiated immediately and he was unable to say how many of its 600 workforce may be made redundant.

''I can't give you numbers because this is the start of the consultation process.''

He said the economic impact of Covid-19 was not going to ease any time soon and the trust was unlikely to be able to sustain its full quota of staff in the current environment.

The hospitality and tourism sectors had borne the brunt of the crisis and the trust's survival relied on both, he said.

The vast majority of the trust's businesses had been unable to operate since lockdown began in late March.

''While we have continued to pay all our staff during this time, unfortunately it is not sustainable going forward.

''Even at Alert Level 2 the restrictions imposed will seriously impede our ability to trade profitably.”

The trust had been focused from the outset on protecting its 600-plus staff, including initiating pay cuts across its executive team and board indefinitely, Ramsay said.

Every decision it had made was to try and save jobs, he added.

''We’ve assessed every possible scenario but the reality is we may not be able to save them all.”

The people hurting in the hospitality and tourism industries extended well beyond the trust, he said.

“These are unusual times and we are all doing our best to navigate our way through them.''

The trust was committed to recovering strongly and it looked forward to one day being in a position to expand its team again, ''when the demand is there to do so”.

A flow-on effect to community funding was inevitable, with the trust anticipating significant operating losses to continue for some time.

Also, the ILT Foundation's funding from gaming machines was not being generated because its venues were closed.

“Our ability to continue to provide the level of funding we historically have is seriously constrained and, as we have advised all potential recipients, this will affect our grants decisions.”

Funding applications to the trust and ILT Foundation would be received but placed on hold until further notice, Ramsay said.

“Once we are again in a position to do so, our trustees will continue to focus on making the best decisions for our Invercargill community,”

“We recognise those organisations who rely on this funding would appreciate definite timelines and an indication of funding levels from us. However, like everyone, we are working in unpredictable times and in an uncertain economy.

“Our community is at the heart of our organisation and can be assured we are doing everything in our power to recover quickly.”