Iceland workers dispute
Deputy Bríd Smith raised the occupation and lockout of Iceland workers in Coolock and urged the Taoiseach to meet them. The Minister for Enterprise expressed support, said an examiner has been appointed, and pointed workers to their legal protections and the WRC.
We want to express our full solidarity and support for the workers in Iceland in Coolock who have gone in this morning and occupied their store. The Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, met with Naeem Maniar, the new owner of the Iceland chain of stores in this country, which employs 344 people. We are now seeing a pick-off effect with stores being closed. As it happens, staff in the two stores on the north side, in the Northside Shopping Centre and Coolock, went on strike recently to try to secure moneys and wages that were owed to them by this individual. He then went on to say to them:
I'm not your employer. Just to clarify – you're employed by the company Iceland Stores Ireland Limited. So just be very clear I am not your employer, okay.
The office of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, met with this individual recently.
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Will the Minister express solidarity with those workers who were locked out of their jobs today? Having shown respect to the employer by meeting him, will he meet the workers-----
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-----and find out what myriad of opaque operations are going to be put in place in another Debenhams-style closure?
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I express concern and support for the many Iceland workers and their families who are being impacted today and over the last number of days. The courts have appointed an examiner to assess the future viability of the company and put in place a support and rescue package for the company, if it is possible to do so. There are legal obligations on employers towards workers, which need to be applied here. If they are not being applied, the workers have the right to go to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. That State infrastructure will ensure that people's legal rights are protected in terms of the obligations that employers have towards workers. That is certainly the case here. We will follow this ongoing story, which is not welcome-----
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-----from a retail perspective, to make sure workers are given their full protections and entitlements under the law.
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Does this sound a bit like another Debenhams to the Minister? It does to me.