Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
“I WORKED THERE for 45 years, and this is how they treat us?”
That is the question asked by John Finn, one of the Clerys workers who stood outside the offices of Natrium Consortium, the new owners of the former department store, this lunchtime.
Standing on the North Wall Quay in Dublin the former staff members shouted:
The workers united will never be defeated.
It’s been 11 weeks since they lost their jobs, but they aren’t giving up without a fight, they said.
The store closed suddenly in June, resulting in more than 400 people losing their jobs.
This included employees of Clerys as well as concession holders. Many of the workers had been working at the department store for decades.
Following the purchase of the store, Natrium immediately moved to liquidate its operating company. Overnight, the workers say their lives changed forever.
“I was due to retire in 2017. I gave 45 years to the company and I was there since the Guiney days,” said Finn.
“I knew I was going to retire next year, but I never expected to be pushed into it early like this. These people are a great bunch to work with and the way we have been treated has been disgraceful. I worked there a long time, but it is the other workers, the ones with mortgages and young families that I worry for,” he said.
Today’s protest was organised by the trade union Siptu, who is critical of the liquidation being carried out without any discussions with the Clerys workers.
The trade union said no plans for the payment of workers’ outstanding wages or redundancy entitlements were communicated to them.
Nuala Noone, originally from Galway, has lived in Dublin ever since she got her job in Clerys 43 years ago.
She worked in the office doing administrative work. Noone said she received no communication about what was happening to the company or her job.
That’s why we’re here today.
“The way we have been treated has really hit home to people, I think. Clerys was an iconic store, everyone up and down the country knew about it. Then all of a sudden it’s gone.”
You knew everyone, all ages worked there, everyone was friendly, it was a great place to work. It is such a downer from being in there everyday to nothing.
Veronica Newport, who worked in the store 15 years, said it was “Ireland’s heritage store”.
I loved working there, I loved the people, the customers, it was my bread and butter, for me and a lot of other people.
She told TheJournal.ie that if the company had have been open and honest with the workers, then they could somewhat understand.
“It was the way it was done. It was there one day and gone the next. It is no way to treat workers in this day and age.”
Clerys’ Santa Claus
A man who donned the red suit every Christmas for the festive shoppers said the whole thing is a “disgrace”.
“Clerys was unlike any other store. I played Santa Claus for 4 years in the store, and I really enjoyed it. It was a great place to work. These people here today are absolutely lovely people, and no one deserves to be treated the way they have been treated,2 said Sean Whelan.
When the day comes that Natrium reopens the store, I want to see pickets outside, day in, day out, until people are paid every cent they are owed.
The latest estimate for the cost of liquidation from the Department of Social Protection shows it is set to cost the taxpayer €2.5 million.
The Department’s Social Insurance Fund will have to pay out all the outstanding statutory redundancy payments for the workers.
“It is the taxpayer that is paying out €2.5 million to sort out this mess. When the store opens we need to be outside until all of that money is repaid,” said Whelan.
Speaking at a jobs announcement today, the junior social protection minister Kevin Humphreys said he was “extremely angry” that the taxpayer had been left to foot the bill for the job losses.
He said his department would be working to ensure that those whose lost their jobs can get back into employment.
Meanwhile, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said he was unhappy with the situation but described it as an “isolated incident”.
He added: “But this [had] an appalling impact on the workers and something we need to learn lessons from.”
- First published at 11.45am. Additional reporting from Hugh O’Connell
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Unbeelievable
Bee what your are. Could they bee any more Cork now saying what bhoy what bhoy over and again. Like that gobshee Niall Boylan when he had a strong common Dublin accent man fighting on air with a common strong Cork accent. It a fight everyone wanted to bee at but gob Niall had to butt in just when comedy gold was about to made.
I, for one, welcome our new bee overlords.
Joe Duffy “they are wreaking my buzz”
@Crístóir Ó Duinn: They look busy.
According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. It’s wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway, because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible.
@H Mc: Irish Aviation Authority regulate flying in Ireland. Their “laws” don’t apply to bees.
@Chemical Brothers: do ya like jazz?
Great to see bees making a fightback.If they disappear we disappear.
Must have been some buzz
Wow! Wish I was there to catch them! Caught two swarms in Dublin today, great stuff! I love the summer!!
Just remember to beecareful.
great buzz round the town
Bejasus!
Riveting
Normal behaviour, leave them be, it’s just nature, etc., I don’t care, of I see a swarm approaching I’m hotfooting it to the nearest lake or other body of water.
@Maria Hickey-Fagan: bees only sting in defence. No need for you to be so dramatic.
Some man for the puns in Pádraig
Buzz Killington Dave
@Ted Logan: Hey! Words hurt you know
@Dave – Stinging
Beewitching.
Gowan da bees!
Nothing to see here buzz off
“Just leave them bee”
@Nydon: Bee (adj):
To buzz around in a stripey little body with functionally inadequate wings.
@Nydon: Human beeing:
To wear yellow and black striped clothing.
@Nydon: Beeing serious:
Add flimsy wings to the stripey shirt and wear a black balaclava.
@Nydon: You’re an idiot
They were heading to Niall Macs for a pint by all accounts….
Don’t go on any unnecessary journeys!
“Honey I’m home”
Bizzybodies the lot of ye
Knocked a bee hive in a ditch one time when I was young , not nice , 13 or 14 stings, they were in my tee shirt when I got home
Great to see. Hopefully, our pollinators are making a comeback. People should stop killing wasps etc as well. They are all Pollinators.
It’s unbeelievable the buzz that this story has generated.
Has the distillery any influence on the visit?
The apocalypse
@Michael Sexton: yeh that remark was weird
Would expect to see a blue rinse outside with a tin of Vapona
Who the hell has “their local bee keeper”?
@Chicken George: i know 3 places near where i live that keep bees. Youd be suprised. No pun intended
@cp: I know a few also but they’re not exactly part of the emergency services on standby in case there’s a swarm. I can only imagine the reaction if I rang up and asked him to come in to town to deal with it. “I will in me bollix”
@Chicken George: funnily enough Midleton has an unusually high population of beekeepers! Genuinely!
@Chicken George: many moons ago in a kingdom far far away the government in its infinite ” wisdom ” cut some 600 trees to widen a road , swarms of bees invaded the houses and some young dude got killed for being allergic , when called the local bee dude gave this exact response you said there, lucky for us my mom having the room assailed sudden by bees called me da ( he work with insects and their pathogens ) and he came over with that white get up they have and took this one bee with him
And all the others followed out . She was bigger than the others . He also warned us smallies do not kill any and do not go near it . So maybe someone upset their home place or the bank repossess their hive? Bees do not just go into Middleton on a Saturday to get their messages no .
I’d hate to bee in middle of that!
As a swarm they are suppose to be placid?
have your say