Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

"Unfortunately, we have closed the shop in Blackpool. There won't be any need for any staff member to attend work from now on. You will be contacted by people as regards how to claim your redundancy and all the other bits and pieces. Thank you for your service over the years. Kind regards, Sean Nyhan".

This is the text message that was sent to a Butcher's Block manager in the middle of the night last Friday night-Saturday morning, informing workers - some of whom had 20 years of service - that their jobs were gone five weeks before Christmas. What does the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, make of that? What the ex-employer described as "all the other bits and pieces" include back pay, holiday pay, and time in lieu. I spoke to one couple who both work there. They are owed approximately €1,500 in back pay and holiday pay. This is outrageous treatment from the former employer.

This situation is compounded by the outrageous inaction of the Minister of State's Government. Why is it that one and half years after the Debenhams strike the Government has failed to pass legislation to improve workers' rights in a liquidation situation? Why might these workers have to go down the queue to get what is owed to them in a liquidation? When will the Government support the passage of the Companies (Protection of Employees’ Rights in Liquidations) Bill 2021 - known as the Debenhams Bill - through the Houses of the Oireachtas?

There has been an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity from the ordinary people of Cork to these workers. What has happened to these workers has rung alarm bells for other workers - and by the way, the shops that will close are not just the ones in Cork, they are in Dungarvan and in the midlands also. This needs to ring alarm bells for other working people. It is no great secret that a recession is on the way. It is no great secret either that the way these workers have been treated is far from exceptional. It is only a couple of weeks since we saw one of the biggest names in international capitalism, namely Twitter, get a new owner. The richest man in the world, Mr. Elon Musk - the man who wants to colonise Mars - sacked workers in that company by way of an email. Those workers were sacked by email and then a couple of weeks later we have these workers being sacked by way of a text message. This is becoming more common.

What we need, and what I advocate, is not just improved legislation for workers' rights - pass the Debenhams Bill - it is for workers themselves to prepare for the coming recession. Given the type of hard-nosed employers we are dealing with in these situations the message from me to workers is the same as the message that was necessary ten years ago, 20 years ago, and 100 years ago: organise, organise, and organise again.

Tonight, however, I want to put the spotlight on the Government and the question of legislation and why there is not sufficient legislation there to protect fully these workers.

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