On Saturday (26th August), SIPTU announced that the sit-in of the Iceland Waterford store would come to an end after claiming to have reached an agreement with the Examiner that the workers would receive “their statutory entitlements and all monies that were owed to them”.

The Sit-In began after the Waterford store was closed, with only 30 minutes notice given to the staff.

In their statement, SIPTU stated that statutory redundancy and other entitlements would be fast tracked. Concerned that this may be an indication of unequal treatment of workers by Metron Stores Ltd., the IWU sought clarification from the court-appointed Examiner, JW Accountants, who confirmed that IWU, SIPTU and non-union Iceland staff are all going through the same process.

The process, as it stands, is that workers may participate in a collective redundancy negotiations, either individually or through their Union. However, through pressure from the IWU, the company has agreed to offer a waiver which would accelerate any redundancy application. However, the issues of outstanding monies remain. The company is still refusing to acknowledge significant sums of money owed to its workers and has yet to make any commitments to resolving this matter.

The IWU finds it concerning that SIPTU has presented this state of affairs as a victory. It is unfortunate that the Waterford workers have ended their sit-in, as this reduces their leverage for negotiating the payment of their outstanding wages and annual leave pay.

The IWU was also surprised to read the RT

Today members of the IWU employed by Metron Stores Ltd. (trading as Iceland), were present in High Court for the presentation of the most recent report of the Examiner on the company. Donna Grimes, who has participated in the Talbot St. store occupation since being laid off without notice, gave the following statement on behalf of the workers and the Union:

“Judge Quinn,

My name is Donna, and I have a statement I wish to make.

Since 16th February, Project Point Technologies Ltd, with Mr Naeem Maniar as Director, bought 100% of shares of Metron Stores Ltd for 1 euro.

The company then made underpayments and changes to the running of the company. This included cost cutting measures such as the closure of head office. This included modification to the rostering and clock in system, and ultimately also unilateral changes to the workers’ terms and conditions.

We worked some weeks and received half our wages or nothing at all.

Then, and closer to the request for examinership, we saw all of our holiday hours get modified by the company and be told we don’t have any.

Unlike other areas of law , there is nobody we would call upon to rectify the matter speedily. As a result, over 300 Iceland Foods Ireland staff began to suffer.

Not only did we suffer financially when our direct debits bounced, or we had to take loans to survive or go into overdrafts and be penalised by it, we also suffered with anxiety and stress from a lack of any uncertainty about our futures.

Many of us became members of the IWU and, with their assistance, discovered a number of things.

The company from day 1 of take over did not pay rent to many landlords, nor did it pay their energy bills, commercial rates, or, in some cases, even suppliers. This, alongside the refusal to pay correct wages, caused huge and obvious alarm as it revealed a level of premeditated calculation.

Now, Judge, we are at a hearing in August, and there are still thousands owed to the workers. The company, meanwhile, continues to delay the redundancy process.

On the other hand, the examiner stated that in writing that when the company placed stores such as Coolock and others on temporary layoffs, the affected workers could seek redundancy. This, 2 months later, also has not happened.

Meanwhile, the long awaited for cases for thousands of euros worth of payment of wages in the WRC are also being targeted by the company for adjournment.

Judge, on behalf of the biggest human stakeholders in this entire process and those who continue to occupy the Talbot St store, we ask for justice.

We ask for orders to be issued compelling the company, which, with its cash reserve exceeding 300,000 euro, can afford to settle all outstanding wage issues and unfair dismissals.

We ask for justice for the ordinary workers who have been the victims of a most sinister and devious series of events.

Judge, will you give us justice?”