‘Change law to stop another Clerys’

Directors of firms who act in the same manner as those behind the Clerys closure should be banned from occupying such positions for five years, according to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

ICTU made the appeal for changes to the law at a meeting with Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton, following which the minister said the proposals were now “under active consideration”.

It came as Siptu — the trade union involved in seeking redundancy money for workers at the department store — said it had still not received an acknowledgement of its request for a meeting with the new owners, Natrium Ltd.

As the row over the Clerys closure rumbled on, ICTU said its proposals were necessary so as to prevent another company closing in the same manner.

Congress general secretary Patricia King said that the law needed to be changed: “As matters stand, it could happen again tomorrow morning.”

Under the ICTU proposals, employers would be required to enter a 30-day period of consultation with workers before redundancies could occur, and if employers failed to comply, any redundancies would be considered void and the staff would be entitled to wages.

In addition, workers and unions could apply to have the directors — or someone acting on their behalf — restricted or disqualified for at least five years.

Speaking on RTÉ’s ‘Today with Sean O’Rourke’ programme, ICTU general secretary Patricia Kind said the Employment Protection Act needed to be amended to ensure companies could not treat workers as those at Clerys had been treated.

The circumstances surrounding the Clerys job losses three weeks ago were legal, but ICTU said there had been “legal gymnastics” surrounding how the company and its liabilities had been split, in addition to the “appalling” manner in which workers had learned of the job losses.

“When you do that, ruin people’s lives like that, there has to be a price to be paid,” Ms King said, asking: “If you behave like that, are you fit to be a director?”

Following the meeting between the ICTU officials and Mr Bruton, a spokesperson for the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (DJEI) said the ICTU proposals were “constructive” and are “now under active consideration by the department”.

However, moves to bring-in new legislation aimed at preventing a repeat of the Clerys controversy have been put on the back burner by ministers.

A report on the sale and liquidation of the store set to go to Taoiseach Enda Kenny today is likely to call for recently enacted company law to be tested to see if it is tough enough before any further proposals are put before the Dáil.

The report has been compiled by Business Minister Ged Nash, who described Natrium’s decision not to meet him on days suggested by the minister ahead of the report’s finalisation as “extraordinary”

Mr Kenny told TDs the matter of whether company law needed to be amended would be looked into, but he said it was a “complex” area.