STAFF AT the stricken high street CD and DVD retailer HMV took over the company’s official Twitter account earlier to vent their grievances at a round of staff sackings.
The @HMVtweets account, which had been dormant since the British-owned chain entered administration two weeks ago, was revived by staff who complained that over 60 “loyal employees who love the brand” were being fired at once.
“Sorry we’ve been quiet for so long,” the users added, explaining: “Under contract, we’ve been unable to say a word, or – more importantly – tell the truth”.
The tweets – which were posted with the tongue-in-cheek hashtag #hmvXFactorFiring – were later followed with:
Just overheard our Marketing Director (he’s staying, folks) ask “How do I shut down Twitter?”
The users behind the account explained that they would never ordinarily use the Twitter account in such ways, but that they felt they had no other choice when “the company you dearly love is being ruined and those hard working individuals, who wanted to make HMV great again, have mostly been fired”.
They also added that HMV’s Facebook and Twitter accounts – the latter having about 63,000 followers at the time the tweets were posted – had been set up by unpaid interns two years ago.
The tweets were removed shortly after being posted.
In a statement, HMV’s administrators Deloitte confirmed that they had made 190 redundancies in the companies’ head office and distribution network.
There were no job losses at any of the HMV retail outlets, some of which have reopened in the UK. The chain’s 16 Irish stores – which have a total workforce of about 300 – remain closed, however.
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