Mandate General Secretary in occupation of Paris Bakery
Friday 23 May 2014John Douglas, Mandate General Secretary and President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), is currently involved in an occupation of the Paris Bakery Restaurant on Moore Street in Dublin.
Mr Douglas attended a protest earlier today with workers who are demanding unpaid wages of more than €55,000, owed to them by their employer, Paris Bakery & Pastry Ltd. During the protest, the workers were forced to enter the premises as their employer began removing valuable assets. Mr Douglas was in attendance at the protest in a personal capacity and in a show of solidarity with the workers involved.
The occupation takes place inside a protected building on Moore Street which was the escape route for some of the leaders from the 1916 Rising including Padraig Pearse. The building is owned by NAMA and there is also a heavy police presence inside the restaurant.
Mr Douglas said, “Workers should not have to occupy a premises in order to get what is owed to them by their employer. Some of these workers have not been paid in almost three months, yet their employer thinks he can just toss his staff aside without paying a penny and then take the equipment from under their noses.”
He explained, “At the moment we’re stuck up the front of the building where it’s freezing cold because there’s no heating and there’s a threat that the power might be disconnected. There’s ongoing difficulties with workers who are not allowed to use the toilets but are trying to negotiate with the Gardaí now. The treatment of these workers has been a disgrace and all they’re asking for is fairness and justice and to simply get what’s owed to them.”
Mandate has lobbied the government in the past to ensure workers would never have to go to these lengths in order to get wages and entitlements owed to them but Mr Douglas said his unions’ calls seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
“We’re seen this situation before in the case of Vita Cortex, La Senza, HMV, Game, Thomas Cook, Connolly Shoes and now the Paris Bakery, where workers have to take extraordinary actions to receive unpaid entitlements.
“This is a shocking indictment of our government’s inaction in respect of protecting workers’ rights in situations like this.
Mr Douglas concluded, “We’re calling on the business owners, Mr Yannick Forel and Ms Ruth Saville, to pay these workers what they’re owed and we’re once again calling on the government to legislate to ensure workers are never forced to occupy a premises again.”
