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Debenhams liquidators have withdrawn a proposal to provide € 1 million in additional funds on top of the mandatory payments due to their staff in Ireland who were laid off earlier this year.
Around 1,000 workers lost their jobs when the chain went into liquidation in April, and since then the union mandate and former staff have been campaigning for better firing conditions.
Since April, staff and activists have protested the stores, preventing KPMG liquidators from removing stocks.
Today, the old shops on Henry Street in Dublin and Patrick Street in Cork were occupied by former employees, who were later removed by gardaí.
This morning, KPMG issued a statement, saying: “Following the actions of certain people overnight, it has now become clear that the offer is not acceptable to former employees and others.”
“In light of these developments, the liquidators formally withdrew their support for the settlement agreement this morning.
“The liquidators will no longer negotiate settlement agreements with former employees.”
Last week, RTÉ revealed that under a possible agreement between Mandate and liquidator Kieran Wallace, at least 1 million euros (in addition to money owed for legal dismissal) would be released for distribution to staff.
In return, workers would picket stores and allow stocks to be removed and sold, with a third of the net proceeds from that sale going to staff.
However, the Debenhams union delegates wrote to their union mandate describing the possible settlement with the liquidator as “an insult to the members”, which should be rejected.
Staff have been demanding at least four weeks’ pay per year of service under a pre-liquidation collective agreement, instead of the legal minimum of two weeks per year of service with a limit of 600 euros per week.
The cost of this additional claim is estimated at more than 10 million euros, but KPMG has argued that the company is insolvent and that this financing is not available.
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