Arsenal to continue paying staff, casual workers full salaries

London, April 15 (IANS) English Premier League side Arsenal will continue paying employees and casual workers their full salaries until the end of May but it won’t use the governments furlough scheme, the club said on Wednesday.

“All our employees are receiving their full salaries and we plan to continue this. We are not currently intending to use the government’s furlough scheme,” Arsenal said in a statement.

“In addition to our employees, we are extending our commitment to pay casual workers on our payroll from the end of April to the end of May.

“For our matchday casual workers this means they will be paid for all four Premier League games that have been postponed and will be paid again should they work at these games once re-arranged.”

The top-flight Premier League season has been suspended until at least April 30 due to the novel COVID-19 pandemic.

Tottenham Hotspur on Monday reversed their decision to use the government’s furlough scheme for some non-playing staff during the coronavirus pandemic after drawing flak from supporters.

Earlier on March 31, the club had announced 550 employees would take a 20 per cent pay cut in an attempt “to protect jobs”.

Liverpool had previously also reversed their decision to place some non-playing staff on temporary leave.

The Premier League giants had said they were going to apply to the government’s taxpayer-funded job retention scheme.

However, later, chief executive Peter Moore in a letter addressed to the fans said: “We believe we came to the wrong conclusion last week and are truly sorry for that.”

–IANS

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