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Dublin: 3 °C Saturday 25 May, 2013

Target Express workers end sit-in after meeting liquidator, department

Junior minister Seán Sherlock has pledged funds from the state insolvency fund to support the workers’ redundancy payments.

Image: Photocall Ireland

TARGET EXPRESS WORKERS have ended their sit-in protest at the Cork depot after reaching an agreement with the company’s provisional liquidator and junior minister Sean Sherlock regarding their outstanding wages.

Spokesperson for the protesting workers Thomas Cullen told TheJournal.ie this evening that the group was protesting to ensure the payment of the two weeks of wages they were owed by the company as well as overtime and holiday pay.

He said that staff were pushing to receive the wages as quickly as possible, and that Seán Sherlock said the payment could be made in about six weeks’ time. Sherlock committed to releasing funds from the state insolvency fund to support the redundancy payments.

“They couldn’t give a guarantee on [the timeframe],” Cullen said. “What they did say was that starting from Tuesday next week, we would be put into the [Social Welfare] system and officials from the Department of Social Protection will meet us in Cork. They’ll sit down with us to talk it through.”

He said that the workers will all be put on statutory redundancy.

Potential sale

In a statement this evening, the company’s provisional liquidators said that they brief staff in Athlone, Carlow, Dublin, Wexford, Tralee, Limerick, Clones and Cork today and “have now spoken to the majority of employees” and are “getting them started on the paperwork required to claim their statutory entitlements”.

The provisional liquidators said that they are engaging with a number of parties about the possible sale of some aspects of the business.

“If a sale is to take place, it will occur before the coming weekend,” the statement added.

Provisional liquidator appointed to Target Express >

Target Express workers call for ‘clarity’ in sit-in protest over job losses >

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Comments (7 Comments)

  • Reg 30/08/12 #

    Hopefully this company will be purchased and the jobs retained. Any update on the wherabouts of the great outraged?

    Reply
  • Gary. 30/08/12 #

    No sign of the comany owner making any statement.

    Reply
  • jrbmc 31/08/12 #

    I’m sorry to see them losing their jobs but why should they get preferential treatment ??? I know of people who
    were left waiting 4 months for wages/holiday payment etc.. And more then 6 month on their redundancy. Jobs are being loss every week but a guess it the usual case of who
    You are and who you know…

    Reply
  • Damocles 31/08/12 #

    Great, another government bailout.

    Reply
    • Employees rights are gradually being stripped away. I’ve been harping on about this for 4 or 5 years now. Can anyone ever imagine this kind of debacle happening in the public sector? The Unions are so wrapped up in protecting their public sector members and the Croke park agreement, that they’ve totally neglected the private sector. Just look at the way they stood back and said nothing when the Government increased private sector employers contributions towards statutory redundancy payments. That only ensured that private sector employees chances of receiving more than the bare minimum compensation in redundancy were massively reduced. When did anyone last hear of a public sector worker only receiving statutory redundancy? As far as I can see, any private sector worker paying union subs to the likes of SIPTU are throwing good money away. It’s time that private sector workers got together and formed their own group of unions. Anyone that thinks all workers should be standing together hasn’t studied the facts. According to an article on the journal earlier this week, private sector workers are earning, on average €300 per week less than those in the public sector. Not to mention the job security and guaranteed pensions that go with public sector employment. It’s time we in the private sector broke away from the belief that,” we’re all in this together”nonsense, I keep hearing. The race to the bottom is nearly over!

      Reply

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