Crystal workers to accept pension proposal

Former Waterford Crystal workers look set to accept a €178m solution to their long-running dispute with the State.

Under the deal approved by the Cabinet, ex-employees will get lump-sum payments of €1,200 for every year of pensionable service.

The settlement will not be taxed, and is to be extended to the next of kin of former employees who died since the company and its pension fund went insolvent.

The 1,700 ex-workers will vote on the deal this Saturday, but it is expected to pass following years of campaigning, legal action and negotiation.

One worker with almost four decades of experience at the world-famous crystal company, Seán Maher, described the outcome of negotiations chaired by Kieran Mulvey of the Labour Relations Commission as “absolutely fantastic” and said it will allow the worker reclaim their dignity.

“It’s been a long road,” said Mr Maher. “It has been laced with disappointments and jubilation and disappointments again and a lot of hard work put in by the trade union Unite.

“I have to say I wouldn’t like to be in a position of seeking justice in this country unless you had some organisation behind you. It’s after taking a hell of a lot of money and a lot of negotiating skills.”

The deal is being recommended by Unite and, if approved, will see 90% payment of pensions up to €12,000, 67% of pensions between €12,000 and €24,000 and 50% of any chunks of pensions worth over €24,000.

It follows a ruling by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg last year which found the Government must protect the pension entitlements of workers whose employers went bust.

Mr Maher, who worked at Waterford Crystal for 39 years and paid about €78,000 into the pension fund only to see it disappear when the company went into receivership in 2009, said there was “a lot of relief” for the ex-workers.

“The biggest thing that it’s going to bring back is respect and dignity,” he said. “It’s going to bring back a sense of belonging after all the time spent cutting and blowing and packing and engraving, all those great, great trades.”

The deal will provide a badly needed economic boost for Waterford and other areas where former crystal workers live, such as Dungarvan, New Ross, Kilkenny, and Carrick-on-Suir, said Mr Maher, who paid into the pension fund from the 1970s to the 1990s. “The only thing they had to look forward to was their pension. That was harshly taken away from them with the Irish government saw it unfit to support an indigenous Irish industry for a mere €37m. It’s going to cost them many multiples of that now.

“It has devastated people’s lives. This now is a glimmer of hope for them to restart their lives, some of them in their 60s and even 70s. [For me] it will mean I don’t have to look over my back and ask myself where the next penny is going to come from.

“I’m over 60 years of age, employment prospects for people of that vintage are not great. I have a small bit of part-time work, which I relish, so this is a nice little thing to get. It’s not something we’re not entitled to, we’re waiting six years for this to happen.”

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton called the pension payouts “modest”, adding: “I hope this will bring security and peace of mind for the workers and their families in the knowledge that their pension entitlements are now secure.”