Mandate invites politicians to Paris Bakery rally

Today (Wednesday, 4 June 2014) at 1pm, the Paris Bakery workers and their supporters will hold a solidarity rally outside the Dail. I am writing to ask that you come along and show your support for these workers and your support for a change in legislation that will give workers like these immediate access to the State’s insolvency fund and ensure this situation doesn’t occur again.

As you may be aware, the Paris Bakery on Moore Street, Dublin have been forced to occupy their former employers’ business for nearly two weeks now. They have not been paid for three months and their sit-in is an attempt to recoup some of the wages owed to them after their employer closed the business without winding it up.

The 15-20 workers, who are owed almost €100,000, cannot access the State’s insolvency fund because their former employer has not ‘wound-up’ the company and it is not deemed insolvent.

One of the workers has already lost his home as a direct result of the actions of their employer and others have not been able to pay their rent for a number of months and are dependent on the good-will of their landlords. All of the workers have been living on the generosity of the public and funding from several trade unions.

This is a totally unacceptable situation but it is not something that is new. Mandate Trade Union has been lobbying for a change in legislation for many years now following the high profile cases that have occurred in Vita Cortex, La Senza, HMV, Game, Thomas Cook and in Connolly Shoes, Dun Laoghaire where one worker has been picketing his employer for close to four years, trying to get what is owed to him and his three colleagues.

Last year I gave a presentation to the Joint Oireachtas Committee highlighting the flaws in legislation that allowed rogue employers to get away with this type of behaviour by hiding behind Limited Liability status.

Too many workers have already been forced into taking extraordinary measures to get what is rightfully theirs. I look forward to seeing you at this event and thank you in advance for your support.

In solidarity,