Ex-Crystal workers ‘will die before getting pension’

Elderly and infirm former Waterford Crystal workers will die before they receive long-awaited pension entitlements, it has been claimed.

As up to 100 retired employees picketed Leinster House urging the Government to reimburse shortfalls in their pensions, one frustrated protester said there is no time for heel dragging.

Tom White, who worked at the glass factory for 41 years before it went bust in 2009, leaving staff entitled to just a fraction of their pension, said about 16 workers have died in the last four years.

“It’s an old workforce, an older generation,” said Mr White, 62.

“If we have to wait another couple of years, not all of us will be around to collect what we’re entitled to.”

Workers and the union Unite have argued that, if the State appeals against the figure determined, the case could drag on for a further three years.

Ian Paul, who worked at Waterford for 42 years after starting when he was 15, said families have been “tormented by the injustice of it all”.

“The Government is dragging their heels on this,” he said.

“They are saying it has to go through the legal system, but they could end it tomorrow if they wanted to without causing all this heartache.”

Cathriona Duggan, who worked at Waterford Crystal for 20 years, said a stringof former workers have lost their homes through hardship.

“Waterford has had a really rough time over the last few years. Not just at Waterford Crystal, but there have been job losses everywhere,” she said.

“The streets are empty, shops are boarded up. It’s like a ghost town. But you have Enda Kenny sitting up here, oblivious.”

Workers, many of them well into their 60s, travelled 160km to the Dáil for the rally, where they also delivered a letter to Finance Minister Michael Noonan demanding the Government act.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny had earlier ruled out striking a deal to negotiate pensions for the former workers ahead of any court decision on the level of payments they can claim.

Despite appeals by TDs and workers representatives to Mr Kenny yesterday, he said both sides must await the outcome of a High Court decision on the amount the State must pay for their pensions.

Independent TD John Halligan disagreed and said a European court ruling allowed the Government to potentially save millions of euro and negotiate a deal away from the courts.

The European Court of Justice ruled in April that the State was breaching EU regulations by failing to protect the entitlements of former Waterford Crystal workers. The issue has now come back before the High Court between workers and the State.

The company closed four and a half years ago but 1,500 former workers were told their pensions had been effectively wiped out.

Mr Halligan said that some families were “living on the brink of poverty” and many were reliant on social welfare after having paid into pension funds, some for nearly 50 years. Up to 20 of these workers had passed away without receiving pension entitlements, added the Waterford TD.