Siptu: Liquidator must end bookbinders sit-in
A liquidator must be appointed to resolve a 10-day bookbinders sit-in at a Wicklow firm, Siptu said today.
Fourteen employees have been occupying Reilly Bookbinders in Wicklow town since July 18, after learning that the company was insolvent and could not pay them statutory redundancy.
Some of the workers have up to 28 years of service but most are with the company for between 15 and 20 years.
The firm restores books for customers like the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Agriculture, the Courts Service, universities, local authorities and the Labour Court.
The company wants to relocate to the Czech Republic where business costs will be reduced.
Siptu said that valuable documents and historic manuscripts could be lost if the firm moves to the Czech Republic.
Siptu representative Shane McKean today called for the appointment of a liquidator in a bid to obtain redundancy payments.
The union said the firm is currently referring the staff to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment insolvency fund, which could take months to process the claim.
Reilly Bookbinders has been in Co Wicklow for 30 years but was taken over by Dunne and Wilson (Ireland) Ltd in 2003.
Mr McKean said: “This is a company which had a long and profitable history, but has been asset-stripped over the past few years.
“There is still plenty of work available and it would be a pity if it had to go abroad simply because of existing management policies.
“Siptu believes the appointment of a liquidator would provide the most viable as well as the most equitable way forward.”