Retrenchment may sometimes be a necessary part of securing future employment for large sections of the workforce. However, the key to a good outcome lies in developing and implementing a retrenchment procedure that achieves the commercial aims of the process while minimizing the impact of job losses on workers and communities. Such a procedure, often encapsulated in a retrenchment plan, should be founded on widespread consultation (particularly with workers and their representatives) and should seek to
Achilles [(uh-kil-eez)] In classical mythology, the greatest warrior on the Greek side in the Trojan War. When he was an infant, his mother tried to make him immortal by bathing him in a magical river, but the heel by which she held him remained vulnerable.
Achilles' heel. A weakness that may not seem important but is actually mortal. The ancient Greek hero Achilles was made invulnerable by being dipped in the river Styx as a child. His mother held him by the heel, which was not dipped, and it was a wound there that killed him.