A potential job cut at Wilko could resume at Wilko on Thursday if an applicant fails to provide the required details for the entire retail operation, a union said.
The GMB union has told members that a bidder for the entire company, which fell into administration earlier this month, has a deadline of 5pm to submit the documents required to consider the bid.
It said there were no further offers that would include saving Wilko’s warehouses and support centers.
Private equity firm M2 Capital is understood to have made a £90m bid to buy the retailer and committed to keeping all jobs for two years.
PwC management had paused layoffs while the company hammered out final details and sought to secure the future of Wilko’s 400 stores and 12,500 employees.
GMB said on Wednesday that the offer for the whole company “has not yet passed the basic tests”.
In the note to members, the union said: “Although further details have been requested from the bidder, we have been informed that if these are not received by 5pm there will be no bids involving either the DCs (distribution centres) or the DCs (distribution centres ). or the support center.
“If this is the case, the layoffs that were paused yesterday will likely resume tomorrow.
“While this means that there are deals on the table for a significant portion of the in-store and online business, we cannot guarantee at this point there will be jobs in the future.”
The union, which represents over 3,000 Wilko employees, will meet again with the administration on Thursday.
This came after Canadian businessman Doug Putman, who bought music retailer HMV in 2019, also made a bid to retain the majority of Wilko stores.
Mr. Putman is understood to remain in discussions with administrators.
Competitors Poundland, B&M, The Range and Home Bargains have also reportedly expressed interest in buying parts of the Wilko business.
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