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.
In Greek mythology Thetis dipped her son Achilles in the mythical River Styx. Anyone who was immersed in the river became invulnerable. However Thetis held Achilles by his heel. Since her hand covered this part of his body the water did not touch it and so it remained vulnerable. Achilles was eventually killed when Paris of Troy fired an arrow at him and it hit his heel.