Buyer eyes Blue Bins waste firm as sit-in continues
Talks between the owners of Healy Waste Management in Cork, who announced the shock closure of Healy’s Blue Bins on Wednesday, and the potential buyer, were ongoing last night.
A source close to the company said they were very hopeful of a positive outcome, with aims that waste collection operations might resume today.
The development came as the staff who lost their jobs ended their first full day occupying the company’s Blackrock depot.
They said they were in it for the "long haul" after their former employer claimed it has no financial resources to pay them.
One of the workers moved a caravan on to the site and said he and his colleagues won’t budge until they are guaranteed to get what they say they are owed. They estimate they are owed a combined total of between €170,000 and €200,000 in unpaid wages, outstanding holiday pay, and their redundancy.
Earlier, company director Aidan Healy, and his daughter and company managing director Nora, blamed increased operating costs, waste management charges, reduced business, and overall poor trading conditions for their decision to put the company into voluntary liquidation.
It will take up to three weeks to appoint a liquidator.
They said they could not pay landfill charges last week, could not act as a going concern, and saw closing the company as the only option.
Ms Healy said: "For each person affected, this is very difficult news to receive. I wish to express my deepest regret that these actions have been necessary, and to thank all our staff for their efforts over the years.
"We have tried everything humanly possible to keep the business going for our staff and for our customers.
"Closing the business is the last thing we wanted but it has become totally unsustainable and we cannot continue to trade given the major losses that have accumulated."
Ms Healy insisted that the salaries of all staff have been paid fully up to date, as of Wednesday.
Founded 40 years ago, Healy’s was a major waste operator in the region, with several large commercial and industrial clients, several lucrative sub-contracts, and hundreds of domestic customers.
It collected waste from construction sites, apartment complexes, and several large retail stores across the city and county, including Aldi, Lidl, and Dunnes.
The rubbish was brought to a transfer depot on Tramore Rd, where it was sorted for recycling or prepared for landfill.
Truck driver Keith Cremin, a 38-year-old father of three from Model Farm Rd who has worked with the firm for nine years, slept on site that night and parked a caravan in the depot yesterday.
"They were a great company to work for. We never had any problems with them. I couldn’t bad-mouth them," he said.
"But they could have come to us sooner and told us things were bad. We heard nothing about it until we came in on Wednesday. I’m not happy with the way we were treated. We have bills to pay, and Easter weekend is coming up, and now we have no wages or nothing. We’re sitting in until we meet the liquidator."
Maurice Horgan, who gave 38 years’ service to the company, said he was shocked by how workers have been treated.
"We’re going to sit-in for the long run. If we have to do another Vita Cortex, then we’ll do that," he said.
Another colleague, Mal, who was working a three-day week, said news of the firm’s closure came as a "sickening blow" because staff believed it was a viable business.
"It hit us all like a bomb. I thought we’d ridden the storm, things were picking up. I was positive about my job. I was expected to get my five days back. It’s hard for me to believe the boss didn’t see it coming," he said.
Several creditors visited the plant before Lord Mayor Cllr Catherine Clancy called to meet the workers.
Bill O’Driscoll, who runs Longboats pub in Ballintemple, dropped off a tray of sandwiches, tea and coffee. "I was a customer of theirs for years. I know the lads — a week’s wages after 40 years for some of them?" he said, shaking his head.
Another customer, John O’Connell, who runs the Leaping Salmon pub in Blackrock, called seeking information on his waste collection service.
"I have a bin packed to the rafters and it’s going to stink to high heaven and I want it out of the way," he said.
Cllr Chris O’Leary (SF) spent most of the day helping the workers with social welfare issues, before many of them signed on.
"I met the workers on Wednesday evening and we examined the situation," he said.
"I told them you can walk out the gate and go the hard road or put up a fight, and the lads have decided to fight, which I think is something they have to do at this stage."
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he hoped the situation could be resolved in a fair and just way.
