Fastway couriers and employees are calling for Government support after its parent company went into receivership last week.
A number of franchisees and workers are holding a protest outside the gates of Leinster House, calling for a statutory tool to be introduced to allow them to receive social welfare payments.
Last week, it was confirmed that Fastway's parent company Nuvion Group had entered receivership.
Keith Corr, a Wicklow-based Fastway driver, said under the receivership, workers have been left unable to claim social welfare for a 30-day period or they risk losing their redundancy or wages they are owed.
He said: "Everyone's been heavily affected by this, between employees, franchisers, contractors, our families, there's thousands affected by this.
"We're here to be heard, to get our voices across. We need change, a change in legislation, we need a statutory implementation put in place to allow the franchisers and contractors that have worked their four-week back work, they want their money back.
"We are under a 30-day consultation period by the receivers, which means we can't work for 30 days, we can't claim job seekers for 30 days.
"How are they telling me now that I can't seek employment for 30 days, otherwise I would be terminating my contract with Fastway.
"I'll lose the money I'm owed and I'll lose my redundancy, they're trying to bend us over a barrel."
Mr Corr said he was on holiday when he learned the company had gone into receivership.
He said: "The CEOs of the company had a meeting (with the receivers) Tuesday morning, they were appointed receivers straight away and Tuesday evening the receivers walked onto the depot floor and shut the place down.
"After everyone doing their deliveries that Tuesday morning, returning back to the depots to know they have nothing anymore, in a blink of an eye gone.
"All we're asking is for what we are owed and our rights to be given back to us and not to be taken away from us."
"I wasn't even in the country, I was on a two-week holiday and I got the message to say that I'm coming back to Ireland with no job anymore," he added.
The jobs of around 300 directly employed staff have been put under threat by the receivership, with hundreds of additional jobs impacted among subcontractors, franchisees and solo operators across the delivery network.
Srgiu Dretcari is a franchise owner who has worked for Fastway for 14 years and has ten drivers working for him.
"I'm protesting because we lost our job, we've lost everything we've invested in this company and there's a big backlog of salary there, and we've been told we won't see that anymore," he said.
"We're looking to get our salary back...we're left with nothing.
"We didn't get any explanation, we got a text message at 4 O'clock - 'the company's gone' - no explanation, no news, no nothing. We didn't get any reply, we weren't told it was going to happen.
"We try now to get what we need, get the money back," Mr Dretcari said.
People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger raised the issue in the Dáil today, calling for Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary to meet the workers and to "sort this out".
She said: "They've been blindsided by their company, they were told they were making vast profits and then they were dumped.
"They're told their not allowed to sign on for any social security measures for 30 days or they risk their redundancy and the wages they're owed.
"They're caught in a complete double bind. We need a statutory instrument to get around this."
Responding, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said there was a long-standing legal mechanism when it comes to receivership and when someone is appointed.
He said the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Enterprise were engaged in the issue and that that engagement would continue over the coming days.
ISME, which represents small and medium businesses, called on the receivers appointed to the company to take immediate steps to ensure that goods currently in transit are either delivered to buyers or returned to vendors without delay.
