'This fight is bigger than us and our family'

Carol Bridgeman being hugged by her daughter Charlotte. Carol  worked at the Mahon Point store and took part in the sit-in protest. She missed Charlotte’s first day at school yesterday.

"They can bail out the banks in 24 hours so they can bail out Debenhams workers now," said protest leader Valerie Conlon to screams of support after she left a three-day sit-in at the Patrick St store in Cork.

Valerie and her former colleagues have been protesting their treatment by Debenhams which has not paid a previously agreed redundancy package of two weeks' pay per year of service on top of their two weeks' statutory entitlement.

The protesters also want to see new legislation enacted to better protect workers, based on the recommendations contained in the Duffy Cahill report which was commissioned following the controversial liquidation of the Clerys department store in Dublin. 

"We will be at these pickets as long as it takes," Valerie said after leaving the sit-in with seven others at the Maylor St exit.

"There have been worse wars and this is one worth winning."

She called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin 'to get the civil service, Mandate trade union and liquidators KPMG' together with former Debenhams staff to thrash out a new and acceptable deal.

Involving workers representatives - union shop stewards - in any future talks would be vital she said, to avoid more time-wasting negotiations which only led to "unacceptable" and "insulting" 'deals'. 

She said that the workers have been "disappointed" by the Government's "lackluster" response to their plight.

"Leo (Varadkar) needs to go to the UK and ask them [Debenhams] about the €95m they have in the bank," she said responding to the Tanaiste's earlier comments that the company could not afford to pay staff.

Carol Bridgeman emerged from the store to an ecstatic hug from her four-year-old daughter Charlotte who had her first day of school while her mum was at the sit-in.

Carol Bridgeman being hugged by her daughter Charlotte as the sit-in protest ended today.

"We went in for an occupation but it felt like we were under house arrest," Carol said.

"The windows were nailed shut and all the passageways were blocked off, all we could access was the canteen and the toilets.

"We couldn't go out for a cigarette and they only let food in after we contacted the media about it.

"But technology has been great. We could Facetime to see Charlotte in her uniform for her first day of school.

"Missing that was a major sacrifice but this fight is bigger than us and our family. It's about improving workers' rights for everyone."

A statement from three of the "Debenhams 8' who occupied the Cork store - Carol, Valerie and Amy Hourigan - said: "What we have done over the last three days we did for ourselves but also for every worker in the country.  

"Working people must not and will not be the ones who carry the can for the actions of greedy companies like Debenhams in this pandemic. 

"This sit-in is not the end - it is the start of the Debenhams workers showing what happens when our patience runs thin and the Government and KPMG will see a lot more of it if they don't act quickly now to achieve a just settlement."

Amy Hourigan, who travelled from Tralee to join the sit-in said: "KPMG threatened us with court injunctions if picketing doesn't stop. I would like to tell KPMG that picketing won't stop and court injunctions do not scare the Debenhams workers. Jail us if you want, we will fight on." 

She said that stock in Debenhams' 11 stores in Ireland is estimated to be worth some €25m - significantly more than the €10m needed to pay former staff two weeks wages per year of service. 

Meanwhile, in Dublin, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the Government will do everything it can "within the legal framework" to support the Debenhams workers.

However, he said "you can't just invent a scheme for one particular situation" as it would have knock-in impacts.

"The government provides statutory redundancy, there are also a range of supports that the government can provide to workers who've been made redundant. I think the workers have been treated very shabbily by the company.

"They've been a long time on the picket line. And it's been very, very difficult for them individually and for their families," he said.