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