Former employees mark one year since Debenhams announced the closure of all its Irish stores.
Protests are taking place to mark the first anniversary of the liquidation of the Debenhams chain of shops in Ireland, culminating in the loss of around 1,000 jobs. Over the year, a group of former employees have been maintaining pickets outside 11 premises across the country.
Anne Pilkington, who worked in the Debenhams Henry Street store in Dublin, is protesting outside her former workplace. She learned that she was being laid off from a,
Generic email that was just sent out and told us to go to Citizens Information or the dole office.
Since that day, former employees have been campaigning for redundancy terms in a 2016 collective agreement with their employer, rather than the legal bare minimum and legislation to boost workers' rights in insolvencies.
A €3 million Debenhams Solas Fund set up by the government for training and upskilling was rejected by workers. Former Debenhams employee Jane Crowe wants to see this money turned into cash. She says setting up a business or retraining is not suitable for everyone.
We have a lot of people who are near retirement age, or who have reached it last year.
The Department of Further and Higher Education notes the supports envisaged under the Debenhams Solas Fund are additional to those available to people who lose their jobs and may be used to support retirement planning.
Workers are prepared to stay on the picket lines for as long as it takes to resolve the dispute over their redundancy package.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 9 April 2021. The reporter is Ingrid Miley.
