The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has condemned as "misleading and irresponsible" a claim by employers" body Ibec that no change in the law is required to prevent another Clerys debacle occurring.
Congress General Secretary Patricia King responded forcefully to the Ibec claim that workers already enjoyed sufficient protections:
'there are over 400 workers dumped out of their jobs in Clerys with just a few minutes notice who would strongly disagree. It is misleading and irresponsible to make this claim and it flies in the face of all the evidence."
"We all saw what happened on June 12, 2015 and the appalling indifference shown to those workers, escorted off the premises by security guards with a few moments" notice. Many had decades of service and were left with just the bare, basic redundancy package.
'to add insult to outrage, the new owners then sent the redundancy bill to the Irish taxpayer.
"Is this the kind of conduct that Ibec are now standing over and trying to justify?
'their assertion is also undermined by the Duffy/Cahill report on the Clerys closure which identified serious deficiencies within the existing law that it said should be addressed.
'this was a thorough report and its recommendations must be implemented in full, as Congress has already stated.
"Congress has already made contact with new Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, Mary Mitchell O"Connor, TD, and requested an early meeting on the full implementation of the Duffy/ Cahill report," Ms King concluded.
