Pay glitch hits Whitcoulls workers

Nerves were on edge at Whitcoulls' stores this morning when about 780 staff across the country discovered they had not received their fortnightly pay, due to be deposited into their bank accounts last night.

Whitcoulls' parent company, REDgroup Retail, went into voluntary liquidation in February, but the New Zealand stores have remained open for business.

Yesterday's lack of payment was a ''system error'', says Michael Cave of Ferrier Hodgson, the administrator for REDgroup, and staff will be paid today or tomorrow.

About 65 per cent of Whitcoulls'1500 New Zealand staff have been affected.

''I know that our guys are onto it and that it's been processed by the bank, and everyone will be paid hopefully during the course of today but certainly within the next 24 hours,'' he says.

Whitcoulls stores in New Zealand are safe from closure, the administrators say.

Book chains Borders, Whitcoulls and Angus & Robertson, owned by REDgroup Retail, are under voluntary administration in Australia and New Zealand.

Four staff at the New Zealand support office were made redundant at the end of March, but the administrator said there would be no changes at store level.

The closure of the Whitcoulls Karangahape Rd store in Auckland was already planned.
On March 3 the administrators announced 37 Angus & Robertson stores and one Borders store would close in

Australia, affecting 321 full and part-time employees.

REDgroup has 74 Whitcoulls stores, nine Bennetts stores and five Borders stores in New Zealand and around 1200 staff.

Two weeks ago 10 Whitcoulls stores at New Zealand airports were sold for an undisclosed sum to travel retail specialist LS Travel Retail Pacific, safeguarding 100 jobs.

The stores - five in Auckland, two in Wellington and Christchurch and one in Rotorua - will be renamed with the new owner's Relay brand in coming weeks.

The administrators said at the time the deal guaranteed the future of those stores and preserved more than 100 jobs.

The sale process is continuing for the rest of REDgroup's New Zealand business while a clearer view of its prospects is expected once final binding bids closed this month.