Source: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

WORKERS WHO HAD been staging a sit-in for almost 20 days at the Paris Bakery in Dublin have ended their protest, as Revenue has stepped in to wind down the company.

Their employers had failed to pay them some €100,000 in wages they say they are owed and Revenue’s action will now mean they have access to the Insolvency Fund.

The 25 staff  had been in limbo since the bakery shut its doors on 23 May.

In a statement this evening, workers said this will allow them to get on with their lives.

Pictured are former Paris Bakery employees, from left, Anissa Hosany from Mauritius, George Bargaoanu from Romania and Matilde Naranjo from Venezuela leaving. Source: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

“We were shocked to find ourselves in this situation; we couldn’t believe our employers could just abandon us like that and face no penalty at all,” they said. “They were able to steal our wages, shut the doors and just walk away, leaving us high and dry.”

The last few weeks have been extremely stressful for all of us. We couldn’t pay our rent or bills, we were trying to find new jobs while fighting for our back wages, and we didn’t know who to turn to. Through all of this uncertainty we have depended on each other. We started as just a few workers locked out of our workplace, but we have become a family.

Workers thanked everyone who has helped them since they were first locked out of the bakery.

“This is not a perfect end to this nightmare. We won’t get all the wages we worked for,” they said. “However, as our employers refuse to face up to their responsibilities, this is the best we can do.”

Related: The Paris Bakery sit-in will be discussed at UN labour conference today>

Read: No end in sight: Paris Bakery workers enter Day 12 of their sit-in>