The manager behind staff restructuring at Dunedin's University Book Shop says she is not ''some corporate hatchet woman'' and is doing her best to turn around six years of falling profits.
Her comments come after staff at the store were handed redundancy notices and invited to reapply for their jobs just over a week ago.
Bookstore manager Phillippa Duffy said ''a number'' of staff had since chosen to take redundancy payments rather than reapply for their jobs, but most had either applied for the new positions or indicated they intended to. The first round of interviews for positions would be held today.
Mrs Duffy was keen to set the record straight over the perception among some that the redundancies came ''out of the blue'' and she was employed specifically to cut staff numbers.
''I am not some corporate hatchet woman that's been brought in to `change manage' and then leave,'' she said.
Staff were told at a meeting, held more than three weeks before the redundancy notices were handed out, that the store was facing financial difficulties and there would be redundancies.
Following the initial meeting, staff were met individually and encouraged to give their input, she said.
''I completely understand that change is difficult. It's a distressing time for everyone, but all staff have been given information and encouraged to be involved in the process.''
''It's very unfair to claim that it was an out-of-the-blue process that nobody was consulted on,'' she said.
The restructuring came after six years of falling profits and the store had run a deficit for the first time in recent times last year, she said.
''It's completely not an option to continue running losses. We are owned by the Otago University Students' Association and we have a responsibility back to our shareholder.''
The falling profits came amid a changing environment for book sellers as online sales and e-books hit the whole sector hard.
''It's a very difficult environment at the moment and has been for six years now.''
Mrs Duffy was committed to the future of the book store after uprooting her ''entire life'' - she has a young family - to move to Dunedin and take up the position following the retirement of long-serving UBS manager Bill Noble last year.
''I am completely committed to specialist book selling. I just know the value that they bring, the support that they bring to a community and its writing community,'' she said.
