Staff take legal action to secure profit share

UP to 300 Waterford Crystal workers are taking legal action and looking for their share of the profit from the rezoned lands owned by the company and used by its sports and social club.

Staff at the company’s Dungarvan and Waterford city plants unanimously backed plans by the company to rezone the 22-acre parcel of land at its Cork Road plant in Waterford at meetings two months ago.

They backed the plan under the proviso that money raised through the sale would be used to secure the future of the plant. Waterford City Council also adopted the rezoning plan. It has increased the value of the land to around €30 million.

However, since then, the company has announced 485 job cuts, among them 390 at the Dungarvan plant which it plans to close from the end of the Summer.

While the lands have not yet been sold or reached the market, 300 staff have signed a petition and engaged a company of solicitors. They are demanding their cut of the profit from any sale down the line.

The workers’ claim is based on the fact they’ve paid subscriptions to the sports and social club out of their pay packets every week, over the past 30 years in many cases. Wicklow-based solicitors Augustus Cullen & Son confirmed they are acting on behalf of staff but declined to discuss the case.

It’s the latest twist in a rezoning plan which has raised controversy in several circles. Students at the adjoining Waterford Institute of Technology campus are up in arms because any land sale would leave them without playing pitches.

One individual who made a submission to the city council on the rezoning plan said the area already has significant lands for commercial, warehousing and light industrial use.

Members of the ATGWU and SIPTU unions first outlined their support for the rezoning when approached with the plan from management. They then took a vote and unanimously supported the change of use, and proposed sale of the land, on the proviso that any money raised through such a move would be used for the benefit of the company and its employees.

Staff later received a written commitment from management that this would happen.

The ATGWU’s Walter Cullen yesterday that the petition and bid by some staff to get their share of the profit from any future sale was not a union matter.

A company spokesman declined to comment on the matter.