SIX MEMBERS OF staff from an Iceland store on Talbot St in Dublin City have occupied the shop after the staff were laid off and the store was closed last week.
Staff told The Journal that morning shift workers were notified last Wednesday that their employment was ceased after the owners, Metron Stores Limited, told them to go home and not return to work.
Staff occupied the store this afternoon in an attempt to seek clarity on the ongoing industrial relations dispute and their employment status in the company.
One member of staff, Donna, who only wished to provide her first name, said: “On Wednesday, staff turned up to work and we got a phone call to the premises to say ‘Your jobs are all laid off’.”
Donna said there was no prior communication about the lay-offs between the owners and the store’s staff or the managers.
The was no email, no notice, no nothing. So then the shop closed.”
Six staff members occupied the store and hung up signs in the window of the shop which described their working conditions.
According to the signs made by the staff, they were made to work in the store with no air conditioning, unfairly dismissed and had their wages withheld.
One sign read: “Managers being forced to other stores, then being unfairly dismissed.”
Donna told The Journal that she only been paid just over a third of her holiday pay. Another staff member said she has yet to be paid for a whole week’s worth of of work.
“There’s staff in there who are owed €1200. Even when we were still open they weren’t given [their] money that was owed to them,” Donna added.
Last Wednesday, when the Talbot St location was apparently closed, staff at another store in Coolock staged a sit-in protest when a similar unexpected closure happened at the location.
According to the staff at the Talbot St franchise, the workers in Coolock were told that wages would be paid and an agreement was reached with the interim examiner, who was appointed last week by the High Court.
The High Court heard, last Tuesday, that Metron Stores Limited, is insolvent and unable to pay estimated debts of €36 million as they fall due.
An independent Experts Report (IER) has stated that the company has a reasonable prospect of survival if certain steps, including the appointment of an examiner, are taken.
The Journal has reported that staff had complained of erratic wage payments, which had seen some receiving a fraction of their ordinary pay packet, or not being paid at all.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) issued a recall earlier this month on all of the grocery retailer’s frozen products of animal origin.
The FSAI described the breaches of food legislation as “very serious” and seeking to recall food which had been imported into Iceland stores since 3 March.
Another staff member said that she has since applied for social welfare, who told her that her contract was actually terminated a week before being told of her lay-off.
Both staff members told The Journal that when Metron Stores Limited took over, in February of this year, there was very little communication made between the stores and its new owners.
“We’re not there to cause any trouble, we just want to be paid what we’re owed,” Donna said.
One protester, who was supporting the staff on behalf of People Before Profit, Bernard Mulvany said: “Commitments were given, promises were made and they were broken.”
Mulvany said the resolution to the industrial dispute needs to be a “broad commitment” from the company.
“As it stands, it seems to be a pick-and-mix and they’re hoping they’ll just go away.”
The company operates 26 Iceland stores in the Republic of Ireland and employs over 344 people.
The Journal contacted Metron Stores Limited for comment – but they had not replied by time of publication.
Additional reporting from Eoghan Dalton and Emer Moreau
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