IT’S BELIEVED THAT a pension deal for former Waterford Crystal workers is close to being finalised.
A statement from the Department of Social Protection to TheJournal.ie said:
“The mediation process in the Waterford Crystal case is ongoing, progress is being made with a view to a settlement, and the department will announce details of any such settlement once final agreement has been reached and government approval secured.”
The factory in Waterford closed in 2009 with the loss of over 1,000 jobs.
The European Court of Justice ruled that the Irish state had failed to protect the workers’ pension entitlements. At the time, 1,500 workers were told they would receive only between 18% and 28% of their pension entitlements.
Since then there have been talks and hearings at the Labour Relations Commission.
Its believed the arrangement could mean at least €1,000 for every year employed with the company, with the possibility that the families of those that have since passed will also be entitled to compensation.
Speaking during the summer, Unite Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly, who represent the workers said it was “scandalous that workers have been forced to jump through a range of legal and bureaucratic hoops in the ongoing effort to secure the pensions to which they are entitled”.
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