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When his 161-day marathon at the factory ended in May 2012, former Vita Cortex staff felt confident that they had done enough to ensure workers would never face a similar battle for a fair layoff.
But while supporting former Debenhams workers in Cork today when their campaign for a fair dismissal hit the 161-day mark, they lashed out at the government, saying it is clear that no lessons have been learned.
Former Vita Cortex worker Cal O’Leary said, “We had politicians with us, and they said they were going to do this, and they were going to do that, but what does a person have to do? I can’t believe it happens again.
“We have three of the country’s top politicians in Cork right now, Micheál Martin, Michael McGrath and Simon Coveney. They are all great men in their own right. Micheál Martin saved thousands of lives with a smoking ban, but this is on their own doorstep, they should be doing something. Stop making promises, just order them.
“Surely someone can pick up the phone? It is not too late to negotiate. ”
He spoke as he and several former colleagues who participated in the 2012 sit-in at the Cork foam factory were with former Debenhams staff in town today as pickets continued in front of the closed Debenhams stores on St Patrick’s St and at Mahon Point . Similar pickets took place at other closed Debenhams stores.
O’Leary’s former colleague Jim Power said they were promised during their sit-in that legislation would be introduced to protect workers.
“If this situation clears up in the next week or two, it will be forgotten again until the situation arises again. We have three high-level politicians in Cork at the moment and they should put their heads together to fix this, ”he said.
He also urged the public to support former Debenhams workers.
“Support is everything. We had tremendous support for our situation. Debenhams workers have to stay together, their families have to stay with them.
“After this period of time, they better stay. They’ve been at it so long. I advise you not to throw in the towel and hold on to it. ”
Another former colleague, Greg Marshall, said that when they finished their sit-in, they were hopeful that something would be done to ensure that workers were not in a similar situation.
“But it has happened to Clerys and others. No lessons were learned. I would urge all parties to sit down now and resolve this, ”he said.
Debenhams union steward Valerie Conlon said that five months after losing their jobs, they remain determined.
“We are all in this for the long term. We will keep fighting. We are not going away, ”he said.
“We are more determined because at first we thought this would last a few days, or a few weeks at the most, but the fact that it goes on much longer makes people angrier.”
Debenhams Retail Ireland Ltd (DRIL) was delisted and went into liquidation at the close of April 9 after the appointment of a trustee of the UK parent company, which the company said was insolvent.
This led to the withdrawal of financial support from the Debenhams group to the Irish branch of the company, rendering the Irish operation unviable and putting 1,000 out of work.
Despite the fact that the Union Mandate negotiated a layoff package for Debenhams staff in 2016 that included pay for four weeks per year of service, the liquidator KPMG reported that there were no assets to pay staff, leaving them with legal layoffs of two weeks of pay per year of service.
Dozens of workers have been officially demonstrating 11 closed Debenhams stores since then in pursuit of what they say would be a fair four-week severance pay-per-year-of-service deal.
The liquidators submitted an offer to provide a fund of 1 million euros to about 1,000 workers in addition to the mandatory redundancy payments.
But the workers rejected it as an insulting offer. And when some occupied the Debenhams stores in Dublin and Cork, the liquidators withdrew the offer.
Conlon, who was among six people involved in the occupation of the St Patrick’s St store in Cork last week, said they met with the Taoiseach in the city afterwards in an attempt to increase political pressure for a government intervention. But he said there has been little progress since then.
“The lack of progress in resolving the dispute has been discouraging,” he said. “Everybody was on top last week, but this is just the beginning. An offer was made and that can only get bigger.
“I am sure that the dispute can be resolved because they know that the workers are not leaving. It is wearing us down. People are leaving their families to come here every day (to picket the store) but last week it only strengthened the people.
“The feeling we have is that the government is thinking about the employers and not the employees. They really need to start helping us because we’re not just campaigning for ourselves. We are thinking of everyone in the future and the workers who will come after us ”.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has reiterated its full support for the official strike by Debenhams workers and has demanded government intervention to break the deadlock.
Members of the executive council urged the Taoiseach to introduce legislation to protect the terms and conditions of employment in the event of suspension of payments.
Secretary General Patricia King said the government “must offer more than sympathy to the Debenhams workers.”
He called on public representatives to support “the continuous attempts of the Mandate and Congress to find a solution to the situation in which the workers find themselves.”
“The proposals jointly submitted by Congress and Mandate aim to address the concerns of Mandate and its members in this trade dispute immediately, based on well-established international best practices,” he said.
“The resolution of this dispute requires a legislative change and we call on all Oireachtas members to take the necessary measures to ensure that this happens immediately.
“The best interests of the workers will only be served by quick political action, not by sympathy, platitudes or political points.
“Congress and the Mandate will continue to be available to discuss and expand on any details of our proposal.”
It started almost nine years ago with nothing more than an instinct and a feeling of injustice.
The Vita Cortex sit-in went on to become one of the longest-running labor disputes in state history, longer than the Dublin blockade of 1913, and became a powerful symbol of workers’ rights.
And despite promises that workers would never find themselves in such a situation again, former Debenhams workers face a similar struggle.
The Vita Cortex foam factory in Cork was occupied by 23 workers when it closed on December 16, 2011, after it emerged that the staff would not receive their termination package of 2.9 weeks of salary per year of service.
Their fight for a fair layoff package struck a chord and they were inundated with public support, with messages from soccer legends Alex Ferguson and Paul McGrath, former president Mary Robinson, philosopher Noam Chomsky, actor Cillian Murphy and dozens. of sports stars from Cork and the GAA. .
Some 5,000 people marched through the city in February 2012 to support them.
Talks in May led to a settlement in which workers paid an undisclosed sum from company owner Jack Ronan.
The marathon sit-in ended on May 24, 2012 with a ceremonial march through the factory gate.
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